yippee ki-yay

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Associated with the 19th-century Western United States; possibly influenced by a line, yippee yi yo kayah, from a 1930s song.[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Interjection[edit]

yippee ki-yay

  1. An expression of joy.
  2. An exclamation used to startle or frighten an opponent.
    • 2022 October 24, Kothardarastrix, “A Nightmare on 17th Street”, in SCP Foundation[2], archived from the original on 16 January 2024:
      "YIPPY-KAI-YAY, MOTHERFUCKER!" Porkchop bellowed, firing off a dozen rounds in the Old Man's general direction. Some actually struck the monster, evinced by the sprays of black mucus that shot out behind it, but it didn't seem to notice as it strode menacingly in Porkchop's direction. His aim grew more erratic as the monster approached, with some bullets flying wild into the wood pile or kicking up plumes of dirt far behind his target.
    • 2023 November 30, Drachinifel, 2:25:51 from the start, in The Drydock - Episode 257 (Live Segment) - 30th November 2023[3], archived from the original on 25 December 2023:
      If you wanted to tell it more from an American side of things... if you wanted to go for the tragic angle, you could either do, Atlanta or Juneau; if you wanted to go with the, uhhh, y'know, yippee ki-yay, guns-firing-all-left-right-and-center, you would go with Helena; or, if you wanted to go with a kind of human-struggle side of things, probably focus on San Francisco; and, if you were going with the Helena option, then, obviously, you could include ships like Laffey and so on and so forth.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Angela Tung (18 July 2013), “A brief history of yippee-ki-yay”, in Wordnik[1]