From whom did you first hear the term

[applegrove]

"woo" used. Specifically was it on the DU?

[Scootaloo]

1. Years and years ago. I think on P.Z. Myers' blog, "Pharyngula."

[Cali_Democrat]

2. Yes. For me it was DU. nt

[TlalocW]

3. James Randi

He uses it a lot.

TlalocW

[2naSalit]

4. I first saw it here on DU,

within the past year.

[kcr]

5. No, I've heard it elsewhere.

It's not a term exclusive to DU. It is pretty popular here though.

[1000words]

6. Maybe 20 years ago

"New Age woo" was the phrase. I believe it's been around a while.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. I first heard it in some folk song

when the term was used to mean "seek someone's hand in marriage".

[cui bono]

8. Yes. Here on DU. n/t

[MADem]

9. Curley, of the Three Stooges.....

[sabrina 1]

10. On DU and it makes me laugh every time I see it.

[immoderate]

11. It goes back a ways. Since there have been skeptics.

"Woo" originates with ghostly, spiritual things. It generalizes to things that require invoking the supernatural to "explain" them.

I know Randi uses it, but it might go back to Sagan, or Asimov. It is not a DU originated word, though, DU has some skeptics.

--imm

[applegrove]

12. I first heard of it on the DU too. And nobody

Can give me a clear definition of when a hypothesis starts and woo ends. It seems to be a concept LOST lost lost IN in in TIME time time.

[Fumesucker]

13. All hypotheses are equal

But some are more equal than others.

[etherealtruth]

17. A high school science class should have given you the answer you seek

I may "hypothesize" that rubbing bear dung and weasel urine on a person will cure their cold ... (amazingly everyone that does this miraculously recovers within 5-10 days) ... have I put forward a scientific hypothesis ... we both know I have not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothesis ... its a place to start if you truly do not understand.

[Arkansas Granny]

14. I don't remember where I first heard it's, but

when I encountered it here, I knew what it referred to.

[Revanchist]

15. J. Randi has been using it for years

Here's a good explanation of it

[etherealtruth]

16. Its been around for a while

It is a term that is short hand for pseudo science and quackery.

Woo (pseudoscience) it what passes for science at places like the Creation museum ... if science doesn't offer the answers "you" like ... one can always engage in pseudo science, and tailor "findings" to fit your needs.

Pseudoscience is used to confuse and obfuscate ... either by design (charlatans or those with a specific agenda), through ignorance ... or through (what I like to think of as) zealotry/mysticism.

Some woo can be fairly benign, but much of it poses a danger to others (squandering time and emotional and financial resources)

[Tanuki]

19. I heard it a long time ago, and originally as "woo-woo." n/t

[etherealtruth]

20. I think that is likely what I heard, too.

[Tanuki]

21. I always thought it might have come from spooky Theremin music in 1950's sci-fi,

or the sound that tv ghosts would make when waving their hands at you menacingly.

[img][/img]

[etherealtruth]

22. I don't know the etymology ... but, you could be right!

[sakabatou]

18. I don't remember, but it wasn't on DU

[ileus]

23. World of Outlaws

Not on DU...

[Fla_Democrat]

24. 1989

Dead Poets Society.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097165/quotes

John Keating: Language was developed for one endeavor, and that is - Mr. Anderson? Come on, are you a man or an amoeba?

{pause}

John Keating: Mr. Perry?

Neil: To communicate.

John Keating: No! To woo women!

[Douglas Carpenter]

25. in that context - yes on DU

[Bluenorthwest]

26. From the guy who calls himself 'Sid Dithers' on DU

I've been told it comes from James Randi, whom I do not respect in the slightest, one of the most dishonest artists of my lifetime. A man who lied harder and longer than almost anyone outside of professional politics.

[Adrahil]

27. Nope, I saw it it on Jerry Coyne's blog.

Whyevolutionistrue.com

[MO_Moderate]

28. Ric Flair

[rock]

29. No. The Amazing Randi

[a kennedy]

30. I think I first saw it here on DU with a poster called "woo me with science"

[lonestarnot]

31. Woo is me. Shakeitupspear.

[SomethingFishy]

32. Yes. On DU.

And I have never heard it used anywhere else, and I have never heard the "woo" discussion anywhere else either.

[LWolf]

33. It was on DU

by a DUer who will remain nameless, as he has passed. Way, way back in the old "Meeting Room."

I didn't know that there was a branch of fundamental skepticism before DU. I thought I was a skeptic simply because I don't drink the kool aid of conventional wisdom or any groups "group think."

Boy, did I get schooled.

[ladjf]

34. A good friend sent me a book 20 years ago discussing the physics of "woo". I can't remember the

the title, but, I read part of the book and immediately recognized that woo physics was "junk science". My friend, on the other hand
was very enthused about it. He has also drifted into "New Age Woo Science."

[lumberjack_jeff]

35. Yes. Here. n/t

[bemildred]

36. The usage is not new, the current PR effort is what's new, and that has also made it common.

It is an insult and intended as such, which has much to do with the ineffectiveness of the campaign. And the fact that too many people know by experience that legally sanctioned drugs and safe, effective drugs and not necessarily the same.

[ananda]

37. Here on DU.

In some respects it is apt.

But it often gets applied too broadly.

[PasadenaTrudy]

38. Sam Harris, I think n/t