Jay and Silent Bob

Jay and Silent Bob are two fictional characters who exist in the View Askewniverse created by actor/writer/director Kevin Smith which figure prominently in most of his films. Jay is portrayed by Jason Mewes as an oversexed, overdrugged, hyper, long-haired stoner/drug dealer. Silent Bob, played by Smith, is his chubby, bearded best friend who, as his name suggests, rarely says anything; but when he does, often delivers it eloquently at a pivotal point in the narrative.

Etymology of Jay's Vocabulary

Jay's mannerisms and phrases have always been a bit of a mystery. He says things like "snoochie-boochies," and "nugga-nooch." These evolved from things he said when he was around the 13-16 age group. In An Evening with Kevin Smith the origin and development of Jay's original colloquialisms are revealed as being something like this:

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• He started with "neh," such as "I'm gonna fuck your mom, neh."
• He then progressed to "nooch," making his suffix a little longer.
• Then, "snooch," adding a letter.
• He added to that to create "snoochie-boochies," adding a lot of length.
• Then he went crazy with things such as "snigi-nigi-nooch," being a lot longer than "neh," by the way.
• He ended up shortening it to "snoogans," in order to encompass all previous forms of the word.

Originally, the phrase conveyed a passive/apologetic air of "just kidding, don't kick my ass" (eg. "Neh"), but it is now most commonly used as a celebratory exclamation (eg. "Snootch to the Nootch!").

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