“huh” and “uh” are often confused. Let’s take a look at these two words from dictionary.com:
used as an exclamation of surprise, bewilderment, disbelief, contempt, or interrogation.
used to indicate hesitation, doubt, or a pause.
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It’s too bad that they totally bashed up the definition of huh. It should totally be broken out into different numbers. Here’s my stab:
huh
1) used as exclamation of interest. i.e. “huh, that is really interesting!”
2) used as exclamation of interrogation. i.e. “what were you doing on the night of the sixth…huh!?”
uh
1) used to indicate hesitation or pause. i.e. “uh, i can’t make this decision right now.”
2) used as expressoin of disbelief. i.e. “uh, are you sure about this?”
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Now “huh” and “uh” shouldn’t be confused with uh-huh, uh-oh, unh-unh, um, um-hum, ur, ur-uh, umph. Click the comments below to view their definitions.
uh-oh
1) used to indicate concern or chagrin at a mildly unfortunate event
used to indicate disagreement, disapproval, or dissatisfaction
used as an expression of doubt, hesitation, deliberation, interest, etc.
used to indicate disbelief, contempt, etc.
1) used to indicate agreement, confirmation, attentiveness, or general satisfaction i.e. “uh-huh, you got the right one, baby!”
My definition of uh-huh:
1) used to show disbelief in sarcastic way. i.e. “uh-huh, like you REALLY got this right.”
Ten years later, I’m re-reading my own blog post, and I’m left thinking, “uh… huh”