Boh: the most useful word in Italian, and it technically means nothing.

Been learning Italian on and off for a while, and "boh" is the one that broke my brain a little. closest I can explain it: a shrug you can say out loud. Someone asks where your friend is? Boh. Is the train ever coming? boh. What do you want for dinner... boh, with feeling.

It's not quite "I don't know." More like "I don't know, and I've made peace with it." My Italian friend runs half her conversations on it. same word, different face each time, and somehow I always get what she means. One syllable, mouth barely moves. The linguistic version of staying on the couch.

Am I even using this right?