fling poo

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Sun Oct 31 04:08:46 UTC 2010


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

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



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