Silly Serious Question?

[sraun]

Where did the term "squee" come from? When's the first time you can remember it being used?

It was one of the (many!) topics of discussion at the Minicon Dead Dodo Party last night.

Comments

[davidwilford.livejournal.com]

Well, this particular data point first overheard the word "squee" being uttered by B. to Laurel last Saturday night at Minicon.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Here, too. It's B's fault entirely.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's onomatopoeic. "SQUEEEEEEE!" I knew girls who did that constantly when I was 12-14. I didn't hear it used as a verb until I started running into fanfic writers a few years back, though.

[kaustin.livejournal.com]

By Googling Usenet I found this (http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?selm=10469%40frog.UUCP) usage from 1989 in alt.flame where someone says:

> ['squee squee squee' deleted]

as a way of quoting a message that said:

ACK! Dave, you jester, you!!!! I love this guy. You are the Sammy Maudlin of the net, DAVE.


So it seems to have been in use, at least derisively, as long as fifteen years ago.

[cutlass-adept.livejournal.com]

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: graphic novel, Jhonen Vasquez.

Squee, little boy next door, carries a teddy bear.

Dark, disturbing. Excellent, but not for everyone.

ditto

[gomeza.livejournal.com]

Same here.

[falcongirl.livejournal.com]

Double ditto.

However, being female and thus having a biological imperitave to occasionally shatter the eardrums of passers-by, especially if said passers-by are male and biologically related to myself - I've used it longer than the comic, but not consistently.
-Pere
(who is trolling off the minicon's friends list during a moment of abject boredom at work)