Homer’s grunt enjoys global clout, says survey

“D’OH!” – the grunt of frustration used by Homer Simpson – is the phrase from The Simpsons which has had the most impact on the English language, an international survey of translators showed yesterday.

Other expressions made famous by the US animated series since its launch two decades ago include “craptacular,” “eat my shorts” and the dismissive “Meh,” according to the survey of 320 linguists.

“Cheese-eating surrender monkeys” – which gained currency as a description of the French by US critics during the 2003 invasion of Iraq – is also among phrases which have entered the global lexicon via the small screen.