boy howdy

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔɪ ˈhaʊdi/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Interjection

boy howdy

1. (idiomatic) Expresses strong support or agreement.
   • 2005, Mark Alan Norris, Everything and Then Some, →ISBN, page 140:

     Boy howdy. There was indeed no rest for the wicked.

   • 2010, Joe Barfield, Formula 2000, the Dream, →ISBN:

     I greeted Shannon's request enthusiastically, "Boy, howdy!"

   • 2013, Honor James, The Rogue Hunter's Mate, →ISBN, page 60:

     "Talk to me, Zaidu. What do you mean?" she asked quietly. "I'm more than a little confused here. I know what's happening in my life." Boy howdy, did she!

   • 2014, Steven Gould, Exo: A Jumper Novel, →ISBN:

     “Boy howdy, are you ever. You're on number four but there's no Doppler shift!"

2. (idiomatic) Expresses emphasis.
   • 1918 October 26, George Pattullo, “Places of Dreadful Night”, in George Horace Lorimer, editor, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 191, number 17, Philadelphia: Curtis Publishing Company, →ISSN, page 15:

     "Boy, howdy! Where do you get that stuff, you rummy?"

   • 1992, Hugh Ruppersburg, Georgia Voices: Fiction, →ISBN, page 460:

     Boy howdy, boy howdy, boy howdy! I was buried alive in noise, and the heat and cinders stung my neck and legs and the bottoms of my feet.

   • 2002, Carole Marsh, Heroes & Helpers, →ISBN, page 43:

     Boy, howdy, is it cold! This is not Paris, as in "gay Paree," in France.

   • 2004, Will Hancok, All 'Bout Me, an Arkansas Tail, →ISBN, page 171:

     l saw her just a standin' there with her little blue suitcase and l said, 'Boy howdy, would l like to crawl into her pants!'

   • 2007, Olive Ann Burns, Cold Sassy Tree, →ISBN, page 77:

     If there wasn't a dragging brake beam to rip me down the back, I was go'n make it! Boy howdy, I did some fancy praying.

Usage notes

• Sometimes used sarcastically to express the opposite.