That sound you made at primary school if someone broke a rule

[TheFirstOHN]

When I was at primary school, if someone broke a rule or did something deliberately naughty, we would make an ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm! sound, with the inflection rising then falling.

My husband (who comes from the West Country) says his peers used the same inflection, but with an 'ah' at the end: ummmmmmmmmmmmah! A friend once told me that where she came from (Northern England), it was a similar inflection, but the sound was ooooooooooooooh!

I've asked my teenage children about this, and none of them have any idea what I'm talking about. Was it just a 1980s thing? Does anyone here remember children doing this? If so, what sound, what part of the world and which decade?

Ha ha - thought no-one would know chinny reckon!!

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwhah in S. Wales.

SE, 80's.
We were Uuuuuuuummmmmmmm you're not Allooowwed to do that!

Chinny Reck-on.

You could do the inflection with the 'telling, as in 'I'm tell (low) -ing (high) on you- (high) -oo (low).

Ummm. 60s, SW London ( though we may have made more of an "uuuuuuum" sound).

I remember it as ‘ummmerrrrrrr’ followed by ‘I’m tellin’ - but I moved around around a lot!

Have just remembered 'I'm telling on you
Your eyes are blue
You kissed a boy
In primary 2'

I would have found this excruciating and didn't say it but the rhyme is definitely stuck in my brain.

Our local thinking sound was 'eh' rather than 'oh' and i think 'oh' was more like a surprise sound.

There was a lot of research on sociolinguistics in relation to social class in primary schools in central Scotland in the 80s to noughties but I can't find papers on this 'sound'.

More on whether slow influx of eg middle class people into Bearsden had an effect on r,l,t sounds.

Sort of a

Oooooommmmvvvvvvvv
Sounding a bit like
Omh [unit of resistance] vvv

Leicester, people in my school said Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr am tellin ov u

We used to say Ommmmmuuurrrssssss.
No idea why but we all did! 🤣
From Scarborough!

Ommmmmmm or ahhhhhhh. Both got used but not at once, pick one or the other. 90s Birmingham.

West Central Scotland, we had "ooooooooh aaaaaaah" here (or "oh ah coca lemon soda..."

Or "beardy beardy" accompanied by scratching/rubbing your chin if someone was talking shite!

'Ummmmmmm!' Sometimes followed 'by I'm telling!' Where I'm from (West of England)

Secondary school it was 'showwnnn up!!' or 'shown to the bone!'

Yep, SE area child at primary from 87-93 and indeed we used ummmm!
Was rapidly replaced by "fight fight fight" at secondary for "sound you must listen for and react to in ten seconds".

We (Glasgow, 80s) went “OOOOOOAAAAAAH!” Our headteacher had a massive thing about it and would go mad if she heard the sound which added an extra frisson of rule breaking.

I had forgotten about the whole thing till I read this thread!

This was still a thing in primary schools the 90's in the Midlands - especially in the dinning hall if someone dropped or broke something More of an "Aaammmmmmmmmmmmmm-Aaahhhhhhhhh" around our way followed where Appropriate with "Tellin'"

This evolved into everyone breaking into wild applause and wooping if anyone ever dropped something once we moved on to senior school!

I had forgotten all about this! London, early 90s, and it was definitely with a schwa sound, followed by 'I'm telling of you!'

Reminds me as well of the weirdly chant-like 'good MOR-ning Miss THOMP-son, good MOR-ning EVVVVV-ree-b'-dee'

Our headteacher had a massive thing about it and would go mad if she heard the sound

That must have been hilarious!

Although obviously not for her.

90s kid, in the north we said Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmm followed by ‘I’m getting you DUN’

It was Aaaaaaaaaaammmmmmm I’m telling at my school. Also Chinny Chin, Itchy Beard.

I was at school in Cambridgeshire in the 80s. We used to say “aaaam errrrrrrrrr” if someone was naughty! DH and I still say it to each sometimes!

North West - late 80's: long drawn out om (rising then falling), followed by "telling" said with the same inflection.

Chinny reckon was also big.

I’m from south west and so is dh and we both said it like in the op not with a random ah on the end

Another south walian here - yy to ‘ommmmmmmmuh’ or ‘ommmmomomomuh’ (the ‘uh’ at the end was an accent thing!)