Language Log

I was going very slowly down the stairwell of my house, especially slowly because I was carrying something bulky.  As a result, my left elbow was sticking outward, protruding  toward the wall.  When I was about halfway down, my elbow scraped against a pointed metal picture hanger, and it hurt like the dickens. 

As soon as the sharp metal object scraped against the skin on my elbow, I shouted "ow!", but then the momentum of my step carried me downward continuing to scrape against the picture hanger, and the "ow" became "owwwccchhhh!" 

Feast your eyes on a small segment of the total number of interjections in English:  Aha, Hurray, Oh, Ah, Aw, Ouch, Wow, Alas, Boo, Hey, Oh my God, Ahem, Bah, Cheers, Hmm, Huh, Huzzah, Oops, Yay, Agreement, Amen, Argh, Awesome, Boy….

Interjections may be exclamatory, quizzical, condemnatory, laudatory, and so forth and so on.  They may convey pain, delight, dismay; approbation, disapproval.

Some interjections are neutral:  uh, um.

Some are positive:  woo-hoo, bravo.

Some are negative:  duh, which is disdainful, demeaning, and even insulting.