In The New York Times, Sam Corbin reports on “the strange resurgence of words like “yap” and “skedaddle”: “Why Kids Are Starting to Sound Like Their Grandparents” (gift link).
Corbin says that “we’re saying ‘sheesh’ again, apparently.” But for some of us, “sheesh” never went away. There are hundreds in these pages. I have it as a Pinboard tag to express exasperation with legacy media. My affection for the word must go back to The Honeymooners : as Ed Norton is wont to say, “Sheesh, what a grouch.”
I like Corbin’s suggestion to bring back “whence,” a word I like to use in writing for occasional comic flavor: Whence bebop ? But I think the far more versatile “sheesh” stands a better chance at a lasting comeback, if it can be said to need a comeback. And yes, “sheesh” is a minced oath.
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February 19: I forgot about this one: from 1954, Art Carney sings “Sheesh, What a Grouch!”
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February 20: Stan Carey at Sentence first has left a helpful comment that casts doubt on the Times writer’s use of the Google Ngram Viewer to show a surge in “sheesh” (the link behind the word apparently ).
[The only yapping in our household is via Molly Dodd’s tired feet: “These dogs are yappin’.”]
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
“Sheesh,” and “sheesh” again
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comments: 6
I don't know if I've ever used "sheesh". A search in my email shows it used by several people I've corresponded with but no examples from my own fingers, and it feels unfamiliar on my tongue.
I wish people were more skeptical about Google's Ngram Viewer. The graph for "sheesh" to which the NYT article links shows the word to be in constant use for 200 years, with a sizeable spike in the 1860s–1880s, a dip for most of the 20th century, then a surge from the 1990s on. This seems very misleading: clicking through to the data shows one false positive after another, often "baksheesh" with a line break.
The Corpus of Historical American English, by contrast, shows the word's emergence less than a century ago (a few examples from the 1930s and 1940s predate M-W's and the OED's first citation, by Ed Norton in 1955), spiking in the 1950s, climbing again from the 1970s, and more or less plateauing from the 1980s on. The figures are small, but COHA is a large and balanced corpus with – at least in my experience – negligible erroneous data, unlike Google's slicker tool.
Thanks, Stan. I should have followed up the link to the Ngram Viewer myself. I see now that the recent results for “sheesh” include “back-sheesh — sheesh — sheesh," from 1893 travel writing, newly digitized, I guess.
I’m happy to see that Edward L. Norton gets first place in the OED, even if there are earlier examples.
When I said people should be more skeptical about it I meant the NYT specifically, here. It annoys me a little that Google's tool has become such a popular resource for anything vaguely etymology-related, when there are other corpora and dictionaries readily available that are far more trustworthy (if sometimes slightly less user-friendly).
Yes, I understood that you were referring to what the Times was doing..
I hope “sheesh” becomes part of your everyday vocabulary. Like my daughter’s “holy moly,” it’s tremendously useful. :)
I can see the charm of "sheesh", but it would struggle to find elbow room in my profanilect, which is not short on minced oaths!
I like “profanilect” — I’m going to now think of “What an inconsiderate driver!” as a minced oath in mine.
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