# Origins of the slang word - Poontang? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427 "2012-01-04T21:05:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/1 "2012-01-04T21:05:17Z")
If you don’t know what it means. 😛 > **[Urban Dictionary: Poon Tang](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Poon%20Tang)** > > That sweet wet hole we all crave, can't go for too long with out, center of our life's desire, what gives woman the upper hand in almost every situation - PUSSY! (Gotta have it!) Any information on its origins? Does Poon or tang mean anything in other languages? urbandictionary seems to think its Korean, but they aren’t exactly an academic source. Maybe Ted Nugget coined the phase? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/2 "2012-01-04T21:12:49Z")
From the OED: > [@OED](#): > > Forms: 19– poontang, 19– puntang. > Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps \< French putain prostitute (see putain n.). > The word does not appear to have originated in African-American use. If it is of French origin, its route into English is unclear: on phonological grounds it is unlikely to have been transmitted via Louisiana French Creole piten(n) whore. > > In early use frequently written as two words. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/3 "2012-01-04T21:13:43Z")
Ted Nugent’s lyrics for _Wang Dang Sweet Poontang_ [http://lyrics.wikia.com/Ted\_Nugent:Wang\_Dang\_Sweet\_Poontang](http://lyrics.wikia.com/Ted_Nugent:Wang_Dang_Sweet_Poontang) So its the French that coined the phrase? Interesting. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/4 "2012-01-04T22:01:26Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > If you don’t know what it means. 😛 > [Urban Dictionary: poon tang](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=poon%20tang) > > Any information on its origins? Does Poon or tang mean anything in other languages? > > urbandictionary seems to think its Korean, but they aren’t exactly an academic source. > > Maybe Ted Nugget coined the phase? Urban Dictionary shows this for “poontang” as opposed to “poon tang”: > [@](#): > > poontang Function: noun > Inflected Forms: plural - poontang; abbreviated - poon > Alternate Spellings: puntang > Etymology: Filipino (Ilokano dialect) putang (whore, fuck) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/5 "2012-01-04T22:21:38Z")
I noticed urbandictionary’s first definition was incorrect. The 2nd definition is the correct one. Its the rather unique aroma and taste that the expression refers too. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/6 "2012-01-04T22:24:01Z")
Coming from Ilokano “putang” would seem a reasonable hypothesis. I wonder if Ilokano got it from the Spanish “puta” (prostitute), which would be cognate with the French “putain”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/7 "2012-01-04T22:53:33Z")
My first thought was: sounds like Tagalog or some related language. Similar to boondocks. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/8 "2012-01-04T23:06:40Z")
Rochester used to have a Chinese restaurant named House of Poon. It made Jay Leno’s “Headlines” three times. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/9 "2012-01-05T01:50:08Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I noticed urbandictionary’s first definition was incorrect. The 2nd definition is the correct one. Its the rather unique aroma and taste that the expression refers too. And this is why you don’t use something as useless as “Urbandictionary” as a reliable source of words. It is totally inclorrect. Origin probably French, as the OED says, but We don’t know as of this point. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/10 "2012-01-05T02:10:15Z")
I was always of the impression (not sure how) that it came from Vietnam, being brought back by the soldiers. This would explain its French origins. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/11 "2012-01-05T04:01:33Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > I was always of the impression (not sure how) that it came from Vietnam, being brought back by the soldiers. > > This would explain its French origins. Since the OED citation shows a 19th century origin that can’t be correct. Vietnam doesn’t even seem to have popularized it because there are so many earlier cites including one that says that JFK regretted that his days of poon were over when he got elected in 1960. Face it. Our (great-great-great-great) grandparents knew and used just as many dirty words as us. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/12 "2012-01-05T04:22:41Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > I was always of the impression (not sure how) that it came from Vietnam, being brought back by the soldiers. > > This would explain its French origins. The OED cites it from 1927: > [@OED](#): > > slang (orig. U.S., chiefly in African-American usage). > > 1. Sexual intercourse, sex; copulation. > > 1927 J. O’Hara Sel. Lett. (1978) 25 Just between us I haven’t had any poon-tang since I was in Germany. > 1929 T. Wolfe Look homeward, Angel 343 A fellow’s got to have a little Poon Tang. The African-American usage is odd, since they also said it didn’t originate with African-Americans. It was probably picked up by them after it entered the language. Given the first cite, it probably comes from WWI, when US soldiers were in France. That would make the connection with “putain” more likely. The decade before it showed up in print is not unusual for taboo words like this. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/13 "2012-01-05T07:58:07Z")
I heard [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxREFqGdmWU) on the radio a couple of weeks ago. It’s from 1929, nearly as early as the OED has it! Apparently it was some kind of bakery good . . . . 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/14 "2012-01-05T08:56:41Z")
That Clara Smith song is interesting for two reasons: it gives evidence for OED’s “chiefly in African-American usage”, and it’s being used by a woman – I’d have thought that almost all usage from that era would have been by men. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/15 "2012-01-05T09:54:38Z")
This [blog post](http://www.peterme.com/poontang/) may also be of interest. Specifically, it possibly links the term to pudding tang. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/16 "2012-01-05T12:23:17Z")
Minor hijack/detour … on the last ep of Hell on Wheels, the tatooed whore referred to her tangy lady parts as her “patooty” … hadn’t heard that one before. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/17 "2012-01-05T13:24:00Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > Minor hijack/detour … on the last ep of Hell on Wheels, the tatooed whore referred to her tangy lady parts as her “patooty” … hadn’t heard that one before. Patootie is one’s derriere. [patootie - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/patootie) ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/18 "2012-01-05T13:30:41Z")
I know that in high school in the early 90s, I had the impression that it was a somewhat recent slang term. I associated it with hip hop culture, which I believed to be the origin. So, I was very surprised to find it in _Cat on a Hot Tin Roof_ (don’t know if it’s in the sanitized movie version or not). [QUOTE=Tennessee Williams in 1955] [Link](http://books.google.com/books?id=eUs4dlW6et0C&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=%22Cat+on+a+Hot+Tin+Roof%22+%22big+daddy%22+poontang&source=bl&ots=eDV82gCvY9&sig=StSzb1IZcoyni0DTPmlVLnkxtXI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_aEFT8mBOoXs2QW04NCJAg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false) Big Daddy: Was it jumping or humping that you were doing out there? What were doing out there at three A.M., layin’ a woman on that cinder track? Big Mama: Big Daddy, you are off the sick list, now, and I’m not going to excuse you for talkin’ so- Big Daddy: Quiet! Big Mama: -nasty in front of preacher and- Big Daddy: Quiet! -I ast you, Brick, if you was cuttin’ you’self a piece o’ poon-tang last night on that cinder track? I thought maybe you were chasin’ poon-tang on that track an’ tripped over something in the heat of the chase -'sthat it? [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/19 "2012-01-05T15:16:37Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Rochester used to have a Chinese restaurant named House of Poon. > > It made Jay Leno’s “Headlines” three times. What did they call their version of “Orange Chicken”? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427/20 "2012-01-05T15:51:26Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > I know that in high school in the early 90s, I had the impression that it was a somewhat recent slang term. I associated it with hip hop culture, which I believed to be the origin. When I was in high school in the early 70s, I had the impression that it was a somewhat recent slang term. I associated it with movies about the Vietnam War, which I believed to be the origin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-slang-word-poontang/608427.md?page=2)