Any of you following “The Puppy Files” (Dave and Chassie’s blog about their new puppy) are aware that a couple of entries recently covered — in depth — the subject of poop, from way too much to not enough.
That got me to thinking — poop is, and always has been a funny word; it’s hard to say it without at least smiling. It’s always interesting to learn when, where and how a term originated. However, the first couple of dictionaries I checked didn’t even have an entry for poop.
Finally, through my extensive research, I determined that most dictionaries defined the word as a part of a ship. e.g., “the aftermost and highest deck of a ship, esp, in a sailing ship where it typically forms the roof of a cabin in the stern.” It’s origin was apparently from the Old French word pupe, that is a variant of Latin puppis, meaning stern. Well, I don’t think that was what Dave was referring to in his blog entries.
What Dave was referring to was well, you know… something else.
My persistence finally paid off and I found a reference in a book of word origins (Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English by Eric Partridge) that indicated that “poop” comes from the Middle English word poupen or popen, and it originally meant “fart.” The word was based on the sound of a fart. The term came into use in America with its current meaning around 1900.
So if poop means well, you know… something else, then I wondered why does pooped mean very tired or exhausted, and not that well, you know… something else had happened? Once again my extensive research didn’t turn up much — it may be that it kind of sounds like the sound of an exhausted sigh, but it probably comes from the nautical reference I first ran across; to be pooped means to have waves breaking over the poop, or stern of the boat…
It occurs to me that all this research, while interesting, has wasted a lot of time for not a very good reason — poop is still a funny word, no matter where it comes from and unlike some people, I don’t consider fans of poop to be nincompoops.
—30—
There is another blog in the family?
Yep! It’s call “The Puppy Files. You can find it at:
http://thepuppyfiles.blogspot.com
I have to say, I was not expecting to see the word “Poop” on your blog when I clicked my bookmark. You are right… it’s a funny word. Especially when it’s on your dad’s post, when he’s commenting about a post you wrote that you weren’t necessarily expecting your dad to read.