"poo poo"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I agree.

JL

sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: sagehen
Subject: Re: "poo poo"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rather than having any particular meaning it seems likely to me that "pooh
pooh" originally was simply a conventionalized spelling of a non-verbal
dismissive sound (unvocalized plosive). Just as "ha ha," "ho ho," "heh
heh," &c., were conventions for conveying the non-verbal sounds of
laughter, which then took on life as words, "pooh pooh" has become a verb
meaning /belittle/.
The coincidence of its (sometimes) meaning /bullshit/ with the infantile
"poo" 's meaning /shit/, IMO is merely fortuitous.
A. Murie


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