Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Interjection 42. The interjection today is whoops. Okay.
if somebody wants to take a screenshot, do it right now. Let's get right to it. We use the term
whoops and oops are almost interchangeably. We use the interjection whoops for several reasons.
We often use whoops for minor accidents, for example if someone falls or trips,
if someone drops something or something falls like on its own. You know, maybe maybe there was
a an earthquake or a vibration of a truck and you got to go catch, whoops whoops catch that.
Something like that, we may also use it. if one actually breaks something or damages something.
Yeah, especially if it's cheap. If it's more expensive we might use a more stronger dirty
word , but if it's cheap we say whoops! I broke it. You know something like that.
Another reason we use it is to admit that we made a slight mistake or possibly to apologize for
something. We might also say it if we accidentally let out something that was supposed to be
secret. Yeah. So we do tend to use it for more minor things if if it's something that's very
very serious we may use words that are stronger, but we say whoops or oops. You know, like well you
know it's slight. I made a mistake , but nobody's perfect. You know, something like that. All right.
Let's continue. Some believe whoops and oops may have derived from ups-a-daisy or up a daisy.
Ups-a-daisy was often used when someone like a child falls and we were picking him or her up.
So you know we probably said ups because we were actually picking them up. So we said ups a daisy
and I don't know somehow. It formed into whoops ups oops or something like that. Okay. Others feel
it may simply have been an onomatopoeia. Remember onomatopoeia that's when it's just like that,
that's the normal sound that comes out when we do something like this. How we make a mistake when
we're whoops. Whoops you know oops. Maybe that's what naturally came out and that's what caught on.
And other people you know, copied other people and that's what we just do naturally now.
All right. Let's continue. And here's six examples of just the way we would use it. You know
copying some of the ideas from up here. Whoops i almost slipped on that ice. I barely caught
myself. Yeah. This one where you almost fall like you're falling. Whoa ! Kind of like that.
And then if you catch yourself, it means that you catch your balance. So you didn't actually fall.
Yeah. Sometimes we say whoops and the bad thing didn't even happen. But it almost happened.
Whoops. I dropped my cell phone. I hope it is okay. Yeah. We see people drop cell phones all
the time. Luckily most of the time surprisingly they are okay. It all depends upon how bad a bang
it hit. It has or if it hits a bad angle. All right. Let's continue. Number three.
Oops. All right. So we'll throw oops in here too. I think I accidentally misspelled
that word. Let me correct it. Yeah. So it could be a minor mistake. A lot of words in
English and even even the best and most educated people sometimes misspell a word here or there,
especially if they're writing fast or something like that. All right. Let's continue.
Number four. Whoops. I am running late. I should have left 10 minutes ago. And we often say that
like at a surprise like whoops , whoops , I got to go. Whoops. Whoops I overstayed you know,
made a slight mistake here. All right number five. Whoops I wasn't supposed to tell you that.
Pretend you don't know. I have heard people say things like this. Maybe they let something
out. They say you're not supposed to know. Pretend you don't know or otherwise I may get
in trouble. All right. Number six. Whoops I spilled a little coffee on your papers.
Okay. Well that might be a bigger problem. It depends. But anyway. This is the way we might
say we're trying to at least downplay it. To make it sound not so serious. Anyway. I hope
you got it. I hope it's clear. I hope it's very informative. Thank you for your time. bye-bye.