2/12/2007

P.U.!...

My office reeks of vinegar right now.

Vinegar just may be the most offensive odor for me. I'd rather smell a dead skunk stuffed with dog shit floating in a pool of rotten milk than smell vinegar.

Also, does anyone know what p.u. stands for? I've checked the internets. Nothing.

14 comments:

GETkristiLOVE said...

According to wikipedia, it's not an acronym:

"PU" (or P.U. is a stylized version) - a spelling of the sound "peeyoo!", a common verbal response to the smell of something unpleasant.

Jenny Jenny Flannery said...

I know it's where Bullwinkle went to college.

Some Guy said...

Thanks, Kristi! Another mystery solved.

Some Guy said...

Flann- I think you're thinking of Whatsamatta U.

The [Cherry] Ride said...

But vinegar & salt potato chips are da bomb. You just have to plug your nose.

Jenny Jenny Flannery said...

Ah, you're right!

Maybe it was Pepe le Pew's alma mater. I know I've seen those two letters like that on a college sweatshirt on somebody funny.

Anonymous said...

Yes, salt and vinegar chips rock.

Are you a pickle hater too, Chris? My boyfriend won't kiss me the whole day if I've eaten pickles.

Jen said...

vinegar is good on french fries

vikkitikkitavi said...

I love the smell of vinegar. My mom used to rinse my hair in it when I was a kid. Maybe that's why.

To expand on "P.U."

"It's a word, not a pair of initials, and there are several spellings. The Oxford English Dictionary has an entry for "phew," defined as "a vocal gesture expressing impatience, disgust, discomfort, or weariness." About the origin, it says "Representing the action of puffing or blowing away with the lips." The earliest quotation there has the spelling "pheut" and is dated 1604. Other spellings given are phu, phew-ew, pfew, and phugh. Another entry contains the further spellings pho and phoo, and the definition is "An exclamation expressing contemptuous rejection or making light of anything."

Zed said...

So let me get this straight, Chris. Are you saying you don't like the smell of vinegar?

Dale said...

Stop douching with it Chris. Vinegar on french fries with lots of pepper and a bit of salt. Mmmmmmm.

The Boob Lady said...

I love the smell of vinegar.

I can usually only eat the salt and vinegar chips if I have dip. I get the sand paper feel on the roof of my mouth which makes me sad. :(

K.I.D. said...

I love the smell of vinegar. I also even love the smell of skunks. It reminds me of coffee.

Scarlet said...

At www.mindlesscrap.com i found this for you.


Q.: Can you tell me the origins of P.U.? Something we said as kids (and even now) when something smells bad?
- Teresa N.

A.: There's a lot of arguing going on amongst linguistics experts about the origin of this word (if that's what you call it). The first thing to know is that nobody really knows how to spell it since P.U. isn't an abbreviation of anything. Here are the two explanations I heard the most (and believe me, asking a bunch of people what the origin of P.U. was a hell of a way to start off a conversation).

1) It's a shortened term for puteo, which is Latin for "to stink, be redolent, or smell bad." I actually called a professor of Latin at the University of Florida to verify this one.

2) It's actually spelled "piu," but is often pronounced as "pee-yew". It's root is the Indo-European word "pu," meaning to rot or decay. A lot of other languages use this root word and have the same general meaning.