Etymology of the phrase pee-yu

[wagonlips]

Or, if this has been answered before, maybe the title ought to be “Correct spelling of the phrase pee-yu.”

It’s just that I’ve recently taught my two-year old daughter to say this (between her and her younger sibling many stinky opportunities for its use occur daily) and it’s caused me to wonder about its provenance.

Cheers

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

Possibly ancient.

[tomndebb]

As the link notes, it is somewhat onomatopoetic. An expression of disgust occurring in a number of (Indo-European) languages is a sigh beginning with the lower lip held in the teeth. The typical (English) spelling of this sound is “phew” (indicating a Greek influence somewhere back in time–again reflected in the etymology presented in the link). If the the teeth do not grasp the lower lip, the initial sound changes from /F/ (or aspirated /P/) to a simple /P/ sound. Since an exaggerated version of “phew” sounds like “pheee-uu,” losing the aspiration on the intial sound changes it to “peee-uu” which is, coincidenatlly, easily represented by the Roman letters, pronounced in English, P U.

[Johanna]

@Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker

Possibly ancient.

Yes. More immediately, I think it came into English from French. Ça pue is how the French say “that stinks.” The closest equivalent in English to the French front rounded vowel /y/ in pue is the diphthong /ju/ spelled “ew.” The pronunciation /pi: ju:/ would be an elongation of this diphthong for added expressiveness.

[SharkB8]

I had a similar threada while back that gathered some interesting insight and links!

I’m currently digging Johanna and Earl’s take!

[cjepson]

@tomndebb

As the link notes, it is somewhat onomatopoetic. An expression of disgust occurring in a number of (Indo-European) languages is a sigh beginning with the lower lip held in the teeth. The typical (English) spelling of this sound is “phew” (indicating a Greek influence somewhere back in time–again reflected in the etymology presented in the link). If the the teeth do not grasp the lower lip, the initial sound changes from /F/ (or aspirated /P/) to a simple /P/ sound. Since an exaggerated version of “phew” sounds like “pheee-uu,” losing the aspiration on the intial sound changes it to “peee-uu” which is, coincidenatlly, easily represented by the Roman letters, pronounced in English, P U.

To take it back even further, I think that the “phew” sound presumably originated as a forceful exhalation of breath, which is what you do instinctively when you smell something bad. This is related to one of my favorite weird words, “faugh”, which is often shown as being pronounced “foe” or “faw”, but in fact is a verbal representation of the sound “PFFF” – again, an instinctive reaction of disgust. (I guess it’s in the same category as “ahem”, “ho-hum” or “achoo” – words representing non-verbal sounds.)

[Colophon]

Non non messieurs! Ze word he was inventioned in Paris in ze années quarante by a leetle black and white Frenchman…

[Johanna]

@cjepson

To take it back even further, I think that the “phew” sound presumably originated as a forceful exhalation of breath, which is what you do instinctively when you smell something bad. This is related to one of my favorite weird words, “faugh”, which is often shown as being pronounced “foe” or “faw”, but in fact is a verbal representation of the sound “PFFF” – again, an instinctive reaction of disgust. (I guess it’s in the same category as “ahem”, “ho-hum” or “achoo” – words representing non-verbal sounds.)

I think you got it right.

[AskNott]

For many years, college students from Bloomington, Indiana have stated, with a straight face, that it was simply the abbreviation for Purdue University.:dubious: