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What does "уииииии" mean? Is it an extended acronym?

For example here (http://risovach.ru/upload/2014/08/mem/filosoraptor_58953516_orig_.jpg):

enter image description here

or here (http://demotivatori.net/sozdanije/posters2/b04a316a10e7e609a6d0c7de158451be.png):

enter image description here

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7

"уииииии" it's just the sound that you issue being crowded emotions when sliding down the snow slides or water slides, or something like that. Or when you get for something big, long expected, an awesome thing or event.

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2
  • The simplicity and truth of this answer tempts me to select it as the answer. It describes what it is and when/why it is used.
    – rickhg12hs
    Dec 1 '15 at 0:47
  • A native speaker also liked this description, adding "... or when you get a long expected drink )"
    – rickhg12hs
    Dec 1 '15 at 0:48
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Would this not simply be a calque of the English word "whee!" ?

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  • I'm no linguist and had never heard of a "calque" before, though I have noticed examples of them. Perhaps listening to a calque is all that is required to understand it.
    – rickhg12hs
    Nov 30 '15 at 18:15
  • 1
    @rickhg12hs: that's not a calque, that's a loanword. A loanword is borrowed from another language as is: офис < "office", кроль < "crawl" etc. A calque is a root-for-root translation: небоскрёб < "skyscraper", тяни-толкай < "push-pull" etc.
    – Quassnoi ♦
    Nov 30 '15 at 21:59
  • @Quassnoi So, might this be a Phono-semantic matching (PSM)?
    – rickhg12hs
    Nov 30 '15 at 22:09
  • @rickhg12hs: it's an onomatopoeia (звукоподражание), its meaning is defined by its sound, it has no meaning distinct from its sound. An example of PSM in Russian would be рында ("ship's bell") < рынду бей < "ring the bell", the word рында having been extant with another meaning in Russian by the time рынду бей had been borrowed.
    – Quassnoi ♦
    Nov 30 '15 at 22:27
  • @Quassnoi Again, I'm no expert, but aren't onomatopoeias referring to something concrete and specific, like "meow", etc. Did Russians borrow this from English, or did Russians create "уииииии" independently?
    – rickhg12hs
    Nov 30 '15 at 22:38
1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds31EJ2cXPQ - "уииииии" is sound effect like in this video

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0

The same as Whee! in English.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whee http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whee

Means nothing in Russian.

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4
  • If it means nothing in Russian, would it be accurate to say that they are speaking English for this word?
    – rickhg12hs
    Nov 30 '15 at 17:49
  • Yes. This is just a ways to transcribe English expression with Russian letters.
    – InitK
    Nov 30 '15 at 18:01
  • Is that a "calque"?
    – rickhg12hs
    Nov 30 '15 at 18:08
  • I guess so, yes.
    – InitK
    Nov 30 '15 at 18:10

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