Oh, Phooey!

When I sent an e-mail to a young woman telling her the book she wanted to buy had already been sold, she responded with, "Well, phooey."

I was astonished and delighted to hear that word from my past.  It was commonplace in Brooklyn back in "those days", so I asked where she was from, thinking if not Brooklyn, then New Jersey.

She grew up on a farm outside of Zenia, Ohio! 

Reminiscing,  Susan writes, "One thing I do remember from childhood is that we used it in my family as a comment of frustration at the way something was going or the way something had turned out. But we also used "Well, phooey on you!" as a mild, slightly terse, but not terribly angry - more dismissive - comment; a combination of disappointment, displeasure, mini-hex when someone had not lived up to expectations."

She also found it in a huge discussion of word borrowings from the German:  "Phooey! is a term of disparagement, disappointment, disgust.  It is from the German/Yiddish pfui which means bad smell, and may have also given 'p.u.', a children's expression to mean something stinks."

Yes, I remember as kids we would run around, holding our nose, pointing, and yelling P U at whatever it was that was stinky.  And then probably said Phooey when nobody paid any attention to us.

Susan says it appeared in the cartoon strip Peanuts.  Now I'm thinking I saw it even earlier, but can't place it.  Popeye?  She also saw a children's book called Phooey! by Mark Rosenthal.  And found tee shirts selling on the Internet printed with Phooey!  My favorite is the maternity tee, and second to that is the diaper. 

I'm treating this as if it has sociological importance, when really it's the nostalgia factor that excites me.

Susan writes, "it's a great word.  Perhaps you and I can start a revival !"

-- Florence

 

Comments

[Pat Chambers]

Hi,

Randi referred me to your blog. I'm so excited to learn how "p.u" (allegedly) originated. How about "my stars!"?
BTW, was it John Fowles who wrote "The Magus"? I loved that book.
Pat

[Florence]

Pat, Read John Chamberlin's comment on Killer Book. He has an interesting take on the Magus, which was a movie, too.
--Florence

[Lauren]

the Urban Dictionary has this to say about Phooey. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=phooey