What's the origin of "oops"?

Search: oops

Why: I corrected a flagrant spelling error in Joel's review of Avatar (11 biscuits, hell right), and he texted back:

Whups.

Answer: Firstly, upsy-daisy or ups-a-daisy was first recorded in Leeds in 1862 as "a common ejaculation [lol] when a child, in play, is assisted in a spring-leap from the ground." The phrase was probably based on an older expression up-a-daisy or up-a-day. The "daisy" part might come from:

• The flower name, which comes from the Old English daegesege or maybe "day's eye"
• (lack)aday + the adjectival suffix –sy tacked on (like lackadaisical? maybs?)
  

Some peeps use "upsadaisy" or "oopsy-daisy" when hoisting someone up. Others just use them (or "whoopsy-daisies") as variants of oops or whoops - like Hugh Grant in Notting Hill when they are climbing that fence.

This meaning has existed since 1925 when a New Yorker caption read "Whoopsie Daisy!" Oops and whoops have been exclamations of dismay since the early 1920s.

So, upsy-daisy means 'up' to almost everyone, and whoopsy-daisy means 'down' (falling or dropping), but there is a gray area surrounding oopsy-daisy.

But that isn't even what I asked. We are just learning here.

In the end, "Oops!" and "Whoops!" (but not "Whups," Joel, spelling error #2) are what the Oxford English Dictionary calls "natural exclamations" - the sort of noises that a human being naturally makes when she slices her palm with the Night Cheese knife.

Source: The Mavens' Word of the Day, Word Detective

The More You Know: My favorite flower is the daisy. I have these Andy Warhol prints in my hoos: