Why does "moo" mean "I've returned after a long time?"

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Alright, at this point, I've been around the block in the Doom community, but one thing I've always wondered about is where did the "moo" tradition come from? I will say, as an occasional Doomwiki editor, I mostly want to get this preserved under the community jargon page. 

 

For those that don't know, if someone is gone from a post, a CP, or a Discord server for a long time, they'll often announce their return with a moo. Do other communities do this? Why do we? When did we start? Is it a reference to something? I love it, but I'm too curious. 

[Hebonky]

Moo!

[act]

I don't know, I just use it as an oppertunity to pass reference to my private life because I'm an asshole like that.

[Ozcar]

Because they aren't humans, they are cows.
Animals can be doomer, you know?

[Dusty_Rhodes]

This is the other interesting thing about the moo phenomenon: it's always danced around for the bit. I love it, like I said, I'm more worried about the posterity, if it's at all possible. 

[Hebonky]

If you want the origin, it's this dumb joke from over 20 years ago 

 

(prower got banned for a test, and didn't get his account back for a minute)

Edited March 6 by Hebonky
clarification

["JL" was too short]

I had never been aware of this and while I certainly won't claim to be anything close to a load-bearing member of the Doom community, I have been reading Doomworld off and on for 20 years, been in at least three community projects (not counting the RAMPs), and hung out in at least one Doom discord for a couple of years now. Wild that I'd never seen it.

[OniriA]

[Xaser]

Little-known fact: "moo" is actually short for "moose".

 

[Amaruψ]

Just grab their teats and start milking. Don't question what is what.

 

If it say moo, I want to see your hands on the teats.

 

Moo.

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

21 minutes ago, Amaruψ said:

If it say moo, I want to see your hands on the teats.

 

Moo.

Woooooow, are they real?

[BeachThunder]

'ooM

[Amaruψ]

1 hour ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

Woooooow, are they real?

 

Morer real than this word that I just made up.

[ReaperAA]

4 hours ago, BeachThunder said:

'ooM

 

DooM

[Dusty_Rhodes]

9 hours ago, Hebonky said:

If you want the origin, it's this dumb joke from over 20 years ago 

 

(prower got banned for a test, and didn't get his account back for a minute)

 

Finally! Even if it is a dumb joke, I'm glad to know the origin of it. I love that this in joke is nearly as old as the site. 

[taufan99]

Guess I gotta make "moo!" my usual vocabulary now every once and then.

[xdarkmasterx]

 

[Devalaous]

I know its a coincedence, but I see cow related stuff oddly often in Doom across its history. From Maximum Doom's various moo.wads, weird things like Gateway 2000..

 

13 hours ago, Amaruψ said:

Just grab their teats and start milking. Don't question what is what.

 

If it say moo, I want to see your hands on the teats.

 

Moo.

 

Given your avatar, and what the internet does to that character..

[LuciferSam86]

                 (__)
                 (oo)
           /------\/
          / |    ||
         *  /\---/\
            ~~   ~~
..."Have you mooed today?"...

 

[DynamiteKaitorn]

cowabunga!

[magicsofa]

I feel like documenting such a thing just kills the magic. Does everything need an explanation?

[Dusty_Rhodes]

2 hours ago, magicsofa said:

I feel like documenting such a thing just kills the magic. Does everything need an explanation?

Well inside jokes are a lot of fun, but usually only if you're let inside them. Whenever I get to be a part of a new community, I always find it lame to have to just intuit what certain things mean. If I openly ask, people will complain of newbs ruining the site / game / community / etc. 

 

I definitely get your viewpoint, but what's the point in having a jargon page if it doesn't get used?

[D4NUK1]

Bazinga!

[Daytime Waitress]

Dusty out here killing kayfabe.

[Noiser]

[Insaneprophet]

Having lived on a dairy farm for half of my life I can confirm that when a cow that was out in the pasture all day returns to the rest of the herd in the barn, it does indeed say "Moo!"

[CBM]

my spam and milk 0 map in ramp 2023 proudly displays a huge poster of a cow in the room of the apartment that doomguy starts in

 

I am not sure why but I have always thought cows were incredible animals, maybe its because some of my early years were spendt on a remote farm

 

[Kyka]

Lacking the intimate knowledge shared above by @Hebonky, I would have guessed it was somehow connected to the secret cow level from Diablo 2. (Wandering around on that level were hundreds of lethal cows and much mooing was to be heard.)

[Doomkid]

Quote

Why does "moo" mean "I've returned after a long time?"

Since no one has addressed this, "moo" doesn't mean this at all, lol. I think any connection there you've observed is coincidental. It's a random utterance, the rhyme and reason for when and where it's used IS that there is no particular rhyme and reason for it - at least that's how I always understood it.. :)

[prfunky]

On 3/6/2024 at 2:12 PM, LuciferSam86 said:

                 (__)
                 (oo)
           /------\/
          / |    ||
         *  /\---/\
            ~~   ~~
..."Have you mooed today?"...

 

 

I always thought that the Moo thing was just a further reference back to Cult of the Dead Cow days.

 

Spoiler

On 3/6/2024 at 11:41 AM, xdarkmasterx said:

 

 

Looking at the further referenced video

Spoiler

 

 

I am impressed with the default OS/2/Win95 background color to their animations.