Origin
During the voice recording session for a Tracey Ullman Show short, Homer was required to utter what was written in the script as an "annoyed grunt". Dan Castellaneta rendered it as a drawn out "d'ooooooh". This was inspired by Jimmy Finlayson, the mustachioed Scottish actor who appeared in 33 Laurel and Hardy films. Finlayson had used the term as a minced oath for suggesting the word "damn!" without actually saying it. Matt Groening felt that it would better suit the timing of animation if it were spoken faster. Castellaneta then shortened it to a quickly uttered "D'oh!" The first intentional use of "d'oh!" occurred in the Ullman short "Punching Bag" (1988), and its first usage in the series was in the series premiere, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". It is typically represented in the show's script as "(annoyed grunt)", and is so spelled out in the official titles of several episodes. Some episodes feature variations of the word such as "Bart of Darkness" (season six, 1994), where Homer says "D'oheth" after an Amish farmer points out to him that he has built a barn instead of the swimming pool he was intending; "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" (season ten, 1999), where Homer says "D'oh" in Japanese (with English subtitles); or The Simpsons Movie (2007) where Homer shouts "d'oooohme!" after the EPA seals the Simpsons' home town, Springfield, in a giant dome.
Read more about this topic: D'oh!
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