What is the meaning of "duh" in this sentence?

Question

Though I know the meaning of each word except 'duh', I have failed to realize the meaning of the following sentence.

Why do researchers get so many grants to do stuff that's like, well, duh?

Would anybody like to explain the meaning of above sentence?

"duh" is not Valley girl speak - it became popular in the late 70s, long before Valley Girls became recognized. — , Mar 10 '15 at 14:11
Nothing about that question or its answers would tell the OP how "duh" is used in the given sentence. — Nicole, Mar 10 '15 at 14:12
@Mari-Lou: I see no evidence that OP is specifically asking What does "duh" mean?, but I assume the part he doesn't understand is the last three words in the example. So far as I'm concerned, the "Valley-speak" *like* there is more or less equivalent to *well* anyway (which is what the earlier question addresses). And as to the meaning of *duh*, I think that's General Reference (unless OP needs help understanding the "syntax" of the example, in which case there would be many alternative "exclamations indicative of speaker's reaction)." — FumbleFingers, Mar 10 '15 at 14:57
Okay - maybe I should have CVd "lack of prior research". (Duh! :) — FumbleFingers, Mar 10 '15 at 15:01
They're like, "well, wow!", and I'm like, "Well, gosh". (Just sayin' :) — FumbleFingers, Mar 10 '15 at 18:46
@FumbleFingers - LoL, just caught the full implications ... wise-ass. :0) — , Mar 12 '15 at 20:41

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 10 '15 at 13:53

One definition of "duh" is "a disdainful indication that something is obvious" (Wiktionary).

So that sentence says that many researchers get grants to research things that are so obvious that they don't really need researching. For example, if a researcher received a grant to conduct a study on whether or not most dogs like to play fetch, the result is so obvious that it isn't really worth researching.

mplungjan · Answer 2 · 2015-03-11T05:14:09.177

3

DUH
2 —used derisively to indicate that something just stated is all too obvious or self-eviden _{Merriam-Webster}

So the sentence could be re-written:

Why do researchers get so many grants to investigate painfully obvious things?

I found it used in exactly that way:

'Duh' science: Why researchers spend so much time proving the obvious _{LA Times}
Alcohol increases reaction time; obese men have lower odds of getting married. A waste of research money? Not necessarily, scientists say.

edited Mar 11 '15 at 05:14

answered Mar 10 '15 at 13:53

mplungjan

29,914

"duh" is rarely used to express anger. Most often it is used to express sarcastic denigration, sometimes outright annoyance. – Mar 10 '15 at 14:40
That was the quote in the dictionary. I agree about angry – mplungjan Mar 10 '15 at 14:41
So, see what I mean about dictionaries - most of the time correct, but not infallible. – Mar 10 '15 at 14:57
So prompted by your arguments about angry, I changed the definition I cited from the excerpt in the beginning of the entry used in an angry or annoyed way to show that something just said is already known or is obvious to the SPECIFIC one I meant - WITHOUT changing the gist of my answer at all. – mplungjan Mar 10 '15 at 16:17
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Thank you, I dropped out rather than suffer the continuing indignities of being downvoted. I actually think THE answer is unavailable because of a lack of context and vocal intonation. It's possible that we are both, simultaneously, correct. I'll upvote you now. Won't let me upvote unless you add some small edit, can you do that? ; – Mar 10 '15 at 20:45
1

My pleasure, mplungjan, I apologize for my contentiousness. – Mar 12 '15 at 13:31

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 10 '15 at 14:00

0

The punctuation of this phrase is not correct. It is better written as:

Why do researchers get so many grants to do stuff that's like, "Well, duh?"

The implication of this sentence is that if two people were to have a conversation about the stuff, it would be something along these lines:

Person 1: Did you know that the sky is blue?
Person 2: Well, duh.

With this understanding of the subtext, a rephrasing becomes more obvious:

Why do researches get so many grants to answer common sense questions?

answered Mar 10 '15 at 14:00

Ian MacDonald

3,622

1

Why would it be necessary to change the punctuation? It reads perfectly well with the punctuation it has. – mplungjan Mar 10 '15 at 14:05
1

This is wrong. Only one person, not two, is expressing their thought about research grants for "stupid" subject matter, in this OP. – Mar 10 '15 at 14:06
Yes, only one person is expressing their opinion, but they are expressing it by using an imaginary conversation between two people. – Ian MacDonald Mar 10 '15 at 14:12
No they are not. Sorry. – Mar 10 '15 at 14:24
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That’s one way of reading it, but it’s by no means the only way of reading it. The most obvious reading (i.e., one that requires no change in punctuation) is that duh is being used as a kind of pseudo-adjective here. Substitute obvious and it becomes clear that no punctuation is needed: “Why do researchers get so many grants to do stuff that’s like, well, obvious?”. Both like and well are filler words here: like indicating a lack of precision, well a certain level of bluntness in the following conclusion. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 10 '15 at 14:24
@Janus Bahs Jacquet - "duh" also means "stupid". Substitute "stupid' same result. – Mar 10 '15 at 14:26
Forgive me for going on the assumption that like was not being used as a filler word (according to the complaints of some commenters re: marking this as a duplicate). – Ian MacDonald Mar 10 '15 at 14:26
Yes. You have misunderstood what I wrote. The duplicate question was indicating that like was a filler word. The complaints by commenters was that it was not. – Ian MacDonald Mar 10 '15 at 14:47
apologies. I had misunderstood. – Mari-Lou A Mar 10 '15 at 15:00

What is the meaning of "duh" in this sentence?

3 Answers3