[The_little_didgee]

What does it mean? When is it used?

[Sometimes psychotic]

Sort of blah. No strong feelings one way or the other.

[The_little_didgee]

A friend likes to refer to himself as "meh" so I thought it was just an exaggeration of the word, me. Lately, I have noticed a lot of people saying it, but with a different meaning.

Does anyone know why this word has become widespread?

[1Buster]

It comes from The Simpsons. Urban Dictionary defines is as "indifference" and "the verbal equivalent of a shrug of the shoulders."

[spondiferous]

Good to know. I use it when I feel blah.

[Tamster]

just kind of blah or kind of crappy. Not that great. any of those are what I mean.

[The_little_didgee]

Language and popular culture is interesting. Here is a PDF I found, with some well known TV catchphrases.

Another word, I hear a lot is "sweet". Candy Crash!

i use the word a lot too.

i like using it too

it caught on for me, maybe helped spread it's use on MMO games. People use it to express "I don't care", "whatever" kind of feeling. Easy way to type a laissez faire attitude about something.

[1Buster]

The first time I set my "mood" here I was looking for "Meh." That's usually what I feel like these days - just kind of "... whatever, I don't care."

[Douglas MacNeill]

Just for the heck of it: What's the difference between "meh" and "what-ev-er"?

[wantanewme]

my friend says "meh" all the time and I think it is SOOOO funny. it just means blah....

[IchbinkeinTeufel]

Example 1:

Person a: "How's things?"
Person b: "Meh..."

Person b is either not wanting to talk about it, or is expressing a general feeling of negativity, which could be specific to the person, or just a generally negative mood.

Example 2:

Person a: "What's up with that dog?!"
Person b: "Meh."

Person b is essentially showing a complete lack of interest for the subject of person a's query, or the person him or herself.

Example 3:

Person a: "Do you think I should get a car or a bus?"
Person b: "Maybe a car... meh..."

Person b is showing either a lack of interest, or that he or she believes it doesn't matter whether person a buys a car or a bus.

Conclusion:

What these examples show, is the flexibility of such a silly text-speak word. I often find the usage depends on the individual, as with a lot of colloquialisms; if someone you are talking to online says "meh" following you questioning them on how they are feeling at that time, in addition to you knowing they are often quite private, then the logical assumption could be that they are being invasive.

Difference Between "meh" and "whatever":

Based on my reasoning, "meh" is used to often express either disinterest or evasiveness, whereas "whatever" is often sarcastic or intentionally offensive in nature, such as during a debate: "whatever" could be used to rudely dispute an argument, without expressing a cause, however, cause can be implied, depending on the context. "whatever" is commonly associated with angsty teens, usually in retort to their parents "I'm not doing that! Ugh.. whatever!" when in actuality, what they are often doing is yielding, whilst expressing their disdain. "whatever" and "meh" could, however, be used in a similar or perhaps even the same context, such as the following:

Person a: "Young man, do the laundery right now!"
Person b, example 1: "Meh..."
Person b, example 2: "Whatever!"

Here, "meh" could easily be expressing disdain but inevitable yielding, much in the same way as "whatever"; these two colloquial words are often contextual and/or dependent on the characteristics of the individual. "whatever" is often used similarly to how "meh" can be used to show lack of interest, however, "whatever" expresses it in such a way as to say "It doesn't matter.", such as the following example:

Person a: "Should I get a car or a bus?"
Person b: "Whatever."

This is actually a grammatical error, as the correct response should be "whichever", however, it's still sometimes used, regardless.