We first heard the word in the 1950s, give or take. A singsong chant to flag trouble, perhaps in Sydney, or Melbourne, or northern NSW: “Umm-ahh!” An exclamation to denote an act of naughtiness, the word was rife across Perth in 1960, plus Hobart and Darwin. Adelaide too, where Morgan grew up in the 1990s: “My mum said it to me more than I did.
Seemed to be a parent thing, and she grew up in the ’60s.” Umm-ahh: Once a playground staple, the story behind the uniquely Australian gibe remains a mystery. Credit: iStock Kids in the ACT, the Riverina knew the word’s tonal crescendo.
In the 1970s, the slang infested Albury-Wodonga, though Rebecca, now a mum, can’t recall her own kids using it. The memory tracks with Roderick Campbell, who wrote: “Umm-ahh was popular in the ’80s, inner Melbourne. But haven’t heard my kids or nieces say it this century.
” Thinking back to boyhood, John Clemmensen can still hear the taunt in his mind, yet can’t isolate its origins. Hence his email: “I remember the word as a kid, as do other people I ask. But there’s nothing on the web, nothing in dictionaries.
” Except two Reddit forums John found, both confirming the gibe’s transient existence, a playground chorus with little proof of the term occurring elsewhere. Save for NZ, as Carley Olley vouched, growing up in the 1970s. “Maybe it’s an accent thing, but I might have spelt it umm-ar, or even ummer.
” A tweenage Mark Pulley recalls his mates hooting umm-ahh in Arm.