Hi All,
This is my first post, but I have the feeling I am putting my question in good hands…
Does anyone know what the origin of the term “pitching woo” is?
My boyfriend’s dad and I are having a race to see who can find out first, so any help would be much appreciated!
All I got so far…
My favorite expressions for “pitching woo” are “throwing sheep’s eyes” at someone, or (more coarsely) “looking goats and monkeys” at them.
Just watched the movie Life eh?
Is that the jail movie with Martin Lawrence? Nope, can’t say I’ve watched it lately, although I vaguely remember some woo in it now that you mention it.
I have had zero luck on the Internet trying to figure this out. I found the same passage that Dantheman did, but that’s it Anyone else come up with anything?
To woo someone, in the sense of courting them, extends back (in various forms) to Old English with citations as old as 1050 (and no prior etymology).
To pitch, as noted by dantheman’s citation, had the connotation to “lay out for sale.”
So, “to pitch woo” is to make a sales pitch to win the love of another.
(Both references found in the OED.)
I’ve always thought that ‘pitching woo’ was just a long way of saying ‘wooing’ - of course, in this day and age, we don’t woo as much as we once wooed.
Witching poo?
From the OED online:
Pitching Woo played for the 1957 Yomiuri Giants, aka the Toyko Giants, baseball team.
Sorry. Couldn’t resist. 
Too much pitching of woo can lead to a whole lot of jizz lobbing.