"Palling Around With Pootwattle"

[Wilson Gray]

On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 10:14 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> "Poot," another verb of recent vintage, is another possibility. Again, from the OED, "To break wind..."

Although I've known _poot_ with this meaning practically from birth,
there are some for whom the relevant lexical item is "toot"

Beans! Beans!
The musical fruit
The more you eat
The more you _toot_

and who are unaware of the existence of "poot," being too young to be
familiar with the legendary Pogo.

Since _poot_ didn't occur with the meaning, "fart," in the
comic-strip, being used only as onomatopoeia, I've long wondered
whether Walt Kelly's use of the word was in-joke or coincidence. Since
the word is known to the OED, perhaps "in-joke" is the way to go.

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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