sorry to ask

[dashwood]

can someone enlighten me as to what woo-woos are please?

[Mongrel]

Skeptics dictionary (http://skepdic.com/woowoo.html) to the rescue :)

[dashwood]

thanks mongrelO0

[mesaysi]

Thank you from me as well. I had been meaning to ask. O0

[SKIRRID5]

But why that precise word? I always thought it might imitate the cries of awe with which the credulous greet the latest miracle.

[bindeweede]

But why that precise word? I always thought it might imitate the cries of awe with which the credulous greet the latest miracle.

When I first joined UKS, I seem to remember asking the same question as dashwood. Someone, it might have been JJ, said that it's the sound you make when pretending to be a ghost - try it, making your voice rise and fall in pitch.

But I'm not certain, so please don't quote me.:smiley:

[Cuddles]

But why that precise word? I always thought it might imitate the cries of awe with which the credulous greet the latest miracle.

No-one really seems to know. There are various ideas, like the one Bindeweed says, but none of them are at all certain, and most of them just don't sound that convincing.

[Sarama]

Love the skeptics dictionary and woo woo credo. I haven't stopped laughing since I registered! I like that it's kept somewhat light, somewhat rational and heaped with humour.
Thanks! :smiley:

[Ramontheskeptic]

I first came across the term 'woo woo' as used by James Randi; it seems to encompass a wide range of supernatural / new age thinking. I love the sound of it and now use the term myself in everyday speech when referring to the tendency some have to invoke a 'woo woo' explanation (i.e. supernatural, convoluted and based on a whole heap of logical fallacies) to describe their belief in things as diverse as homeopathy and water divining. I'd love to know where the term originated.