# Etymology of "Poontang"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-poontang/7711>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 26, 2000, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-poontang/7711 "2000-02-26T00:00:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@sly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sly)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2000, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-poontang/7711/1 "2000-02-26T00:00:00Z")

</div>

Cripe, I don’t even know if I spelled it right. Be that as it may, I doubt very much Ted Nugent coined it. Anyone know for sure?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2000, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-poontang/7711/2 "2000-02-26T00:17:00Z")

</div>

Isn’t it just a vietnamese slang word similar in meaning to “a piece of ass”?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tbea925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@tbea925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbea925)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2000, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-poontang/7711/3 "2000-02-26T01:26:00Z")

</div>

Hugh Rawson suggests in **Wicked Words** that it is probably a Creole pronounciation of the French _putain_ (whore), although Chinese and West African sources have been suggested.

Rawson also suggests an influence from “piece” (as in “piece of ass”) and “patch” (an anglicization of the Italian _pazzo_, and component of the word “crosspatch” (a cranky or bad tempered person, usually female).

* * *

This sig not Y2K compliant. Happy 1900.