[net.nlang] P.U.?

devine@asgb.UUCP (12/19/84)

  While in the course of discussing lofty and important things,
a person wondered what does "PU" stand for?  It's one of the
first thing kids learn when visiting strange Uncle Ralph or
when someone had beans the previous night.

  So, is it a farming term -- Pungent Udders, Putrid Ewes (-:
Or is it derived from Latin/Greek origins -- Pungentus Udderusess.
Ecclesiastical start -- after all, people sit in pews....

Bob

ag5@pucc-k (Basket Case) (12/21/84)

<<>>

	Probably stands for Purdue University!:-) <hahaha!>
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rob@ptsfa.UUCP (Rob Bernardo) (12/24/84)

As for the etymology of 'p u' (said upon smelling a bad odor), it seems
to me that 'p u' is a exaggerated lengthening of 'pew' just as
'pulleeze' is lengthening of 'please'. 'Pew', 'phew' or 'whew' is onomatopoetic
for the sound one makes when, e.g. wiping one's brow, smelling a bad odor, etc.
-- 


Rob Bernardo, Pacific Bell, San Francisco, California
{ihnp4,ucbvax,cbosgd,decwrl,amd70,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!pbauae!rob

colonel@gloria.UUCP (George Sicherman) (12/28/84)

[Down went Pew, with a cry that rang into the night ... ]

>   While in the course of discussing lofty and important things,
> a person wondered what does "PU" stand for?  It's one of the
> first thing kids learn when visiting strange Uncle Ralph or
> when someone had beans the previous night.
> 
>   So, is it a farming term -- Pungent Udders, Putrid Ewes (-:
> Or is it derived from Latin/Greek origins -- Pungentus Udderusess.
> Ecclesiastical start -- after all, people sit in pews....

Probably just a member of the {fie, pfui, phooey, ... } family.  Though
I recall an old Warner Bros. cartoon in which it meant "Pimento Uni-
versity."
-- 
Col. G. L. Sicherman
...seismo!rochester!rocksanne!rocksvax!sunybcs!gloria!colonel

gam@amdahl.UUCP (Gordon A. Moffett) (12/30/84)

Stuart Berg Flexner confirms that "PU" is an exagerated form of
"phew" in his "Dictionary of American Slang."
-- 
Gordon A. Moffett		...!{ihnp4,hplabs,sun}!amdahl!gam

37 22'50" N / 121 59'12" W	[ This is just me talking. ]