Bow-Chicka-Wow-Wow

Martha, we got an interesting voicemail from Misty in upstate New York.

She’s asking, where did the phrase chicky wah-wah come from?

She says her husband uses it and her mother-in-law uses it and they think it’s funny.

It’s an imitation of the cheesy bass line in porn movies.

Do you know what she’s talking about?

Of course I don’t.

People do that, right?

If you’re talking about something romantic and you want to kind of indicate that something naughty happened, right?

You go, pow, chicka, pow, pow.

You were like, yes, Susan and I went out on a date last night.

We had a very lovely dinner at El Fromagio.

And then you go, pow, pow, pow.

You’re indicating that later they got it on.

You know, they got busy.

You know what I’m saying, right?

Grant, in all honesty, I’ve never heard that.

Martha, there’s a whole wide world out there.

Catch up.

No, in any case, I find it as early as 1988 referring to the theme of the Shaft movies from the early 1970s.

So it’s incredibly common.

It’s the kind of thing that stand-up comics use.

And it’s in movies and television shows and books,

And, of course, online people use it.

It’s always to indicate that there’s something sexy

Or, you know, kind of just people getting it on, getting busy.

Oh, do you think that’s what’s going on in the Seinfeld theme music?

Doom, doom, doom, doom.

No, I don’t know, but it is a heavy bass line.

It’s similar.

I actually went to high school with the guy who wrote that, Johnny Wolfe.

Oh, how about that?

Yeah.

Hi, John.

Well, send us your questions about where something comes from

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