究竟 oops 呢個英文字係點黎架呢?

Oops-a-daisy came up as a word that was recently used on television. Two of the four people discussing this agreed that the phrase was whoops—a daisy as if one had just stepped on a daisy. This didn't sound right to me, although I was unable to remember the phrase I heard as a child in Illinois. As I contemplated asking the mavens, I remembered the phrase as I had heard it used: ups-a-daisy. My parents would say this as they hoisted me off the ground when I would make them help me up. What is the correct phrase and what is the origin?
Well, both of the phrases exist, but for most people they mean two different things. However, you are right to connect the two; they share a common origin.

Upsy-daisy, also ups-a-daisy, was first recorded in 1862 as "a common ejaculation when a child, in play, is assisted in a spring-leap from the ground" (Robinson, The Dialect of Leeds and its neighbourhood). The phrase appears to have been based on an older expression up-a-daisy or up-a-day in some dialects.

So what's all this about a daisy? Well, there is always the outside chance that we are talking about the flower name that comes from the Old English daegesege. It's more likely, though, that the daisy in upsy-daisy comes from (lack)aday with the adjectival suffix –sy tacked on. The documentation is weak, but variants in several dialects point to this possibility and it makes good semantic sense.

For many people upsy-daisy and oopsy-daisy are two pronunciations of the same word.
"He. . .smacked Colette lightly on the bottom, and said, 'Oops-a-daisy, girl: halftime'" (Freeling, Dressing of Diamond, 1974). Both upsy-daisy and oopsy-daisy mean 'up we go' to these people.

For other people, oopsy-daisy and whoopsy-daisy are just variants of oops and whoops. 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. For some people (perhaps for you?), it is another way to say upsy-daisy, something to say to children when you pick them up. For others (including me) it is a diminutive of oops, something to say to your friends after your third margarita when you accidentally spill tequila on yourself. Both interpretations are common.