# Do you "poo" or "poop"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826 "2011-02-18T17:17:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/41 "2011-02-18T22:29:20Z")
I neither poo nor poop. I shit. But then, I’m pretty blunt. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/42 "2011-02-18T23:22:26Z")
I “have to use the bathroom.” I leave it up to anyone listening to determine what, exactly, I’m doing in there (though I will sometimes tell people if I’m on Vent or Skype during WoW that “I have to pee”, if only because it indicates that my trip to the facilities will be _short_, but is still urgent). If pressed, however, I would probably say, “I have to shit.” However, I’d be pretty cranked at that point. I mean, really, who needs to know what I’m doing in there, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/43 "2011-02-18T23:49:19Z")
Neither. Hate them both, especially the fake-modest, puritanical “poo”. In polite company, “the train’s about to leave the station”. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/44 "2011-02-19T00:25:20Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I love the term “doot,” and use it all the time to refer to my cats’ output. “Okay, gotta go scoop the cat doots now.” Around here, we call those “Kitty Roccas” ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/45 "2011-02-19T00:34:12Z")
I believe, as others have said, that “poo” is more of an English term, whereasw “poop” is an Americanism. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/46 "2011-02-19T00:51:42Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Around here, we call those “Kitty Roccas” Heehee 🙂 I’ve often commented on the resemblance between litter-encrusted cat doots and Almond Roca–especially since we use Swheatscoop wheat litter. Fortunately neither of us like them so the comparison hasn’t put us off our favorite snack or anything 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mehr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@mehr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mehr)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/47 "2016-04-07T01:40:49Z")
very funny, my son who is 28 months and recently start speaking clearly and understand more than I could imagine, has been correcting me by “SAYING: DAD, NOT POOP, POO” so seems that no one is wrong according to all these opinions…but as I am always wrong then I take my son suggestion. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/48 "2016-04-07T01:55:18Z")
As far as I’m concerned: “Poop” is the standard English term. “Poo” and “doot” are baby talk. “Feces” and “bowel movement” are clinical terms. “Crap” and “shit” are crude terms. Any of them can be appropriate, depending on circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/49 "2016-04-07T02:10:26Z")
I prefer the terms “shit” and “manure.” Shitting is just so much more decisive than pooping, and manure captures the valuable quality of these products, after proper composting, than any other term. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/50 "2016-04-07T02:40:15Z")
Do da widdle Dopers also tinkle when they poo? One would hope these terms are abandoned after the age of 5. But apparently not. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/51 "2016-04-07T14:46:32Z")
I shit, crap and take a dump. And due to a Mother from Scotland, jobs and/or jobbies get involved. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/52 "2016-04-07T14:48:32Z")
I defecate. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/53 "2016-04-07T15:06:38Z")
I don’t think I’ve said any of these words as an adult. I cringe when I hear adults say words like “pee” and “poo.” If have to use the restroom, just excuse yourself and go. We don’t need to know what you will be doing in there. ---
**Author:** ![Abner\_Ravenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Abner\_Ravenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abner_Ravenwood)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/54 "2016-04-07T15:14:32Z")
Usually I have to go to the bathroom, take a shit, take a dump, drop a deuce, drop bait, make caca, hacer caca, make a Brad Pitt, take care of some business, take care of the paperwork, count some figures, pinch a loaf, or defecate, depending on my mood and/or who I’m talking to. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/55 "2016-04-07T16:39:05Z")
Poop. POOP! Yep, I say poop. “Poo” just sounds silly to me. And I say “shit” all the time, and occasionally “crap”, but as curse words, or as a coarser substitute for “stuff”. I almost never say that when talking about actual poop. Which is “poop”. Both the verb and the noun. Doesn’t matter who did it - me, my husband, my kid, my cat, a baby, a stray dog, the legions of invading wildlife… it’s all poop to me. Now, if I’m talking about a specific quantity of poop, I’ll often refer to it as “a turd”. But I’ll also say “a poop”, although usually with some kind of modifier: “a piece of poop”, “a huge poop”, etc. And oddly enough, I sometimes do the same thing **cmyk** does, and announce where I’m off to by saying, “Poop!” in a tiny voice. I have no idea where that comes from. I feel like it might be from Looney Toons, but that’s one of those things you can’t Google. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/56 "2016-04-07T19:43:35Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > I shit, crap and take a dump. > > And due to a Mother from Scotland, jobs and/or jobbies get involved. Job and jobbie – haven’t heard those terms in about 60 years. When in “polite” company, I use the word “poop,” but it also has some non-scatalogical meanings as well. Inside information is called poop: What’s the latest poop? I also remember a song from the late 40s to early 50s, Too Pooped to Pop, about a kernal of popcorn that was too pooped to pop. or, if your car broke down, you might say that it pooped out on you. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/57 "2016-04-07T20:01:50Z")
I play tournament Scrabble ®. In the late nineties, someone bought a copy of The official Scrabble ® Players Dictionary (OSPD), and saw the word “jew,” meaning to transact business in a manner where it is clear to the customer that the seller only has his best interest in mind. Not a honorable word to use. In any event, they raised a big ruckus with HasBro (owner of the Scrabble ® Brand Word Game), who then published a new OSPD with all of the objectionable words removed. The tournament Scrabble community got all up in arms, saying, "Just because someone was offended by some words, doesn’t mean that we want to have those words taken away from us to use. Thus, the OWL (Official Tournament and Club Word List) was born, which is what is now used as the official word list (in American, Canada, and Israel; in the rest of the world, another entity owns the trademark, and has another dictionary that is a superset of the OWL). One of the players (who had already made a name for himself by self-publishing a list of all 7- and 8-letter words (bingos, or bonus plays), then later a study book for words of all lengths, up to 8. When He tried to publish a new book with the new words in it, HasBro denied him the right to use the trademark on his book, unless he removed all of the words removed from the OSPD. He did remove those words, but announced to the community that he had created a list of those words on a laminated bookmark that he would give to anyone who had bough the book. That list was named after one of the lesser profane words: The Poo List. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/58 "2016-04-07T20:12:55Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I chose “poo is a noun, poop is a verb” As did I, although I’m more likely to use “crap” in either case. If the OP is still interested, I was born in 1959, grew up in suburban Cleveland, and now live in Indiana, where I just got back from walking my dog so she could crap. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/59 "2016-04-08T03:09:54Z")
Really! I don’t ever remember using poo or poop. Shit, dump, crap, stink up the joint. Lately drop a log and download have been fairly common. If I ever mention it at all. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826/60 "2016-04-08T04:29:19Z")
“Poop” just sounds childish to me. I’m not saying that “poo” is much better. My wife refers to doing “something big”, and I must admit this idiom is growing on me… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-poo-or-poop/571826.md?page=4)