# P.U. = stinky    Why?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-u-stinky-why/36093>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 7, 2000, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-u-stinky-why/36093 "2000-10-07T20:41:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2000, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-u-stinky-why/36093/1 "2000-10-07T20:41:42Z")

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What does P.U., the exclamation commonly associated with discovering a stench, stand for?

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2000, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-u-stinky-why/36093/2 "2000-10-07T20:56:51Z")

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The exclamation _phew_ is dragged out into _pheee-uuw_, then the aspirant sound of the _ph_ is dropped, leaving _peee-uuw_ which is then “abbreviated” as P.U.