Pooch

[Beverly Flanigan]

"Pooch" is used in some regions for belly/stomach "pouch," i.e., to suggest
a nicely rounded little belly--as in "I patted my pooch."  (It was even
used in a TV commercial a year or so ago, but I can't recall what for.)

At 04:02 PM 1/20/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>    "Pooch" is an "origin unknown."  I always thought it was from
> "poodle."  OED and MERRIAM-WEBSTER have 1924.
>    I was thinking about this while writing about "poochee" (the Sri
> Lankan term for insects).  I've been putting a number of terms into the
> AMERICAN PERIODICAL SERIES online here at Columbia--what a mess the
> database is.  You get things that have nothing to do with
> "pooch."  Sometimes you get "pouch."