fling poo

George Thompson george.thompson at NYU.EDU
Sun Oct 31 19:56:55 UTC 2010


"the very-faux Chinese collocation Hoo Flung Poo" -- I've only seen "Who Flung Dung"

""One hung low") and others in infantile jokes" -- I've got a postcard somewhere of Chinatown with a prominent restaurant sign "One Hung Low" -- probably 1930s or 40s, if I recall.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
Date: Sunday, October 31, 2010 0:16 am
Subject: Re: fling poo
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> On 10/30/2010 3:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > ....
> > Astute political commentator on NPR today: "He just wants to hit 'delete'
> > and fling his poo."
> >
> > Maybe, but I get 654,000 raw Google hits on "fling * poo."
> >
> > OED has _poo_ only from 1960 (under _pooh_ for some reason), but
> this was
> > our usual childhood term. My grandmother used it exclusively.  In
> fact, my
> > second-grade class was part delighted, part repelled by the very
> concept of
> > "Winnie the Pooh."  And the "House at Pooh Corner'!  Wow!
> >
> > (I was merely puzzled. That's why I'm here and they're probably
> retired in
> > the Hamptons. But I never heard of anybody "flinging poo" till
> recently -
> > not even politicians.)
> --
>
> Reminiscent of the very-faux Chinese collocation Hoo Flung Poo (various
> spellings, = "Who flung poo"), often encountered along with Won Hung Lo
> (spelling?, = "One hung low") and others in infantile jokes from some
> time back. Plenty of examples on the Web. Apparently there's even a movie.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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