Recently I’ve come to the realization that a lot of people use the word “boo-urns” in a totally different way than it should be used.  They seem to be using it to mean the same thing as “boo”, i.e. to express their disagreement or disapproval of something.  For instance, “No white Christmas for us this year, boo-urns.”  A majority of entries on the Urban Dictionary define it in this way, saying it’s “similar in meaning to… boo” or “to be displeased with a given result or situation”.  But that’s almost exactly the opposite of what it should mean, based on its original context.

The word was coined in “A Star is Burns”, a sixth-season episode of The Simpsons whose plot revolves around a film festival in Springfield.  One of the entries is an enormously self-aggrandizing fictional biopic about Mr. Burns, which shamelessy rips off such films as E.T. and Ben-Hur, and is directed by Steven Spielberg’s non-union Mexican equivalent.  The conclusion of the film is met with a chorus of boos from the audience; Burns, who thinks his film is the greatest epic of all time, asks Smithers whether he is really being booed.  Smithers, always the bootlick, smoothly replies that the audience is actually saying “Boo-urns”.  Burns stands up and asks the audience which they are saying, and they boo him even more loudly - except for Hans Moleman, who quietly admits that he really was saying “boo-urns”.

The etymology of the word is clear: “boo-urns” is not a synonym for “boo”, and certainly not “similar in meaning to the more conventional ‘boo’, but with more emphasis”, as the second entry on Urban Dictionary would have you believe.  It really expresses agreement with something, and in particular, approval of something that generally tends to meet with disapproval and derision.  For example, someone who hates snow over the holidays might genuinely say, “No white Christmas for us this year, boo-urns.”  As another example of proper usage, consider the following:

“I thought Star Wars Episode I was a well-written epic with smart dialogue and crisp pacing.  Boo-urns for Jar Jar Binks!  Boo-urns!”

To conclude, I for one think that boo-urns is a perfectly cromulent word and we should take pains to embiggen our vocabularies by using it in ordinary conversation, in the way its original context implies that it should be used.  And to people who disagree with me, boo-urns!