Yippee Ki-Yay!: Difference between revisions

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A [[Stock Phrase]], usually delivered as a message of defiance or disrespect to an enemy or oppressor. In contexts where profanity is not an issue it is often followed by "motherfucker" in tribute to the [[Trope Maker]]; elsewhere, family- or kid-friendly alternatives are used, or the followup is dispensed with entirely.

The phrase originated as a cheer or cry allegedly shouted by [[Cowboy]]s in the [[The Wild West|Old West]]; like many things from [[The Western|Westerns]], it's probably completely fictional. The version seen in the trope name comes from "yippie yi yo kayah", part of the refrain from a 1930s [[Bing Crosby]] song, "I'm An Old Cowhand". This eventually mutated in the meme pool to "yippee ki-yay ki-yoh", and from there lost the last two syllables. It still retained its [[Cowboy]] connotations throughout this.

The phrase originated as a cheer or cry allegedly shouted by [[Cowboy]]s in the [[The Wild West|Old West]]; like many things from [[The Western|Westerns]], it's probably completely fictional. The version seen in the trope name comes from "yippie yi yo kayah", part of the refrain from a 1930s [[Bing Crosby]] song, "I'm An Old Cowhand". This eventually mutated in the meme pool to "yippee ki-yay ki-yoh", and from there lost the last two syllables. It still retained its [[Cowboy]] connotations throughout this -- which is why it became [[Trope Maker|the comeback]] delivered by [[Bruce Willis]] when called a "cowboy" by [[Alan Rickman]] in ''[[Die Hard]]''.

And from there, it entered the meme pool with its original cowboy connotations mostly forgotten.

Then [[Bruce Willis]] (or rather, the screenwriters for ''[[Die Hard]]'') got their hands on it, and nothing was the same again.

Not to be confused with ''[[Yippee Ki-Yay MF]]'', a 2007 TV show.