An occasional briefing on popular colloquialisms by Bret Dawson.

Today: "Yee-haw"

1. Shortly after the midway point of the lengthy run of the popular dramatic television series The Dukes of Hazzard, a contract dispute between the program's producers and its two male leads proved intractible, resulting in twenty episodes in which the two principal roles were re-cast. For the following season, the original performers returned, and no further mention of the incident was made.

Both the original characters and their replacements spent much of their screen time driving a 1969 Dodge Charger aggressively along rural grid roads, fleeing from corrupt law enforcement officers. After feats of particularly aggressive driving, the original two male leads would frequently make loud falsetto exclamations of pleasure:

"Yee-haw!"

2. The two replacement male leads behaved similarly, but their falsetto exclamations of pleasure lingered longer on the first syllable:

"Yeeeee-haw!"

3. "Ten gallon hat" is a misnomer.

4. Cowboys are gay.

5. That is all.