# Poontang and Pussy-whipped? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2002, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684 "2002-11-14T06:40:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rwarn17588](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rwarn17588](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwarn17588)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/1 "2002-11-14T06:40:17Z")
What is the origins and dates of origin of the words “poontang” and “pussy whipped”? I first heard the former on a Ted Nugent album about 25 years ago, and I never heard that latter until a “Saturday Night Live” sketch maybe 15 years ago. I think these words are older than that, but I can’t confirm. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/2 "2002-11-14T07:00:50Z")
Don’t have a cite handy, but I believe “poontang” is a corruption of the French word “putain”, meaning “prostitute”. “pussy whipped” is probably a metaphor - the notion of a woman using her, erm, vagina, or rather access to it, to control a man figuratively, just as if she were wielding a whip. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/3 "2002-11-14T07:22:21Z")
Poontang is (approximately) female genitalia or having sex with a woman. I have seen speculative etymology linking it to the French _putain_, prostitute. It had a spate of currency during the Viet Nam war (which would seem to have reinforced the association with French), but the OED’s first citation is actually from Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward Angel, in 1929. Pussy whipped is a coarse expression for hen-pecked or uxorious that has been extended to mean that any man (regardless of marital status) is afraid to “stand up” for himself in a relationship, due to fearing he will be denied sexual favors. It was a rather common term in the 1960s and the OED has a reference as early as 1956. ---
**Author:** ![Lure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@Lure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lure)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/4 "2002-11-14T07:56:30Z")
**TomnDebbs’** definition of the terms are correct,tho don’t really know the etymology,but can state for a **fact** it appeared before '56,since as teenagers we used it and understood it’s meaning back then,tho in most of our cases the pussy whipping had litle to do with real poontang :)and I’m sure we picked it up from the older guys or paperbacks that were popular.See the movie \*\* Marty \*\*.Those guys would have surely used it-if censorship wasn’t prevalent in those days. \<\*hijack \*\> One phrase we used that was made up on the spot was wussy (from pussy wussy-an infantile term for the cat) to denote what we considered sissies.A more socially aceptable word,we thought,than saying “he’s a pussy”. Did we actually create the morphed to “wuss”.That’s one I’d like to know.ca.'56-8 ---
**Author:** ![Eidolon909](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce7236/32.png) [@Eidolon909](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eidolon909)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/5 "2002-11-14T09:16:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lure \* > \*\*[\<\*hijack \*\> One phrase we used that was made up on the spot was wussy (from pussy wussy-an infantile term for the cat) to denote what we considered sissies.A more socially aceptable word,we thought,than saying “he’s a pussy”. > > Did we actually create the morphed to “wuss”.That’s one I’d like to know.ca.'56-8 \*\* Well I used both wussy and wuss growing up. “Don’t be such a wuss.” or “He’s such a wussy.” To mean exactly the same thing as you described. And I grew up in the 80’s. I never heard of pussy wussy until now. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/6 "2002-11-14T11:47:09Z")
Poontang from French _putaine_, which derives from Vulgar Latin _puttana_, ‘a whore’. From Latin _putta_, ‘girl’, from Proto-Indo-European \*puto, ‘vulva’… but the Proto-World linguistic hypothesis has traced words for ‘vulva’ or ‘vagina’ in many languages all over the world that go back to a reconstructed form \*PUTI, so _poontang_ just may be one of the oldest words in the English language, with a time depth of 200,000 years. Remember “Shake Your Booty”? In some African languages _buti_ means ‘vagina’ or ‘anus’, and this word is connected with Proto-World \*PUTI. In Nepalese to this day, the word for ‘vulva’ is _puti_. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/7 "2002-11-14T15:03:48Z")
Interesting pop-culture note, just to show that Ted Nugent isn’t the groundbreaker you thought he was… …POON is a hug! TANG is a kiss! I’ve been marooned on an isle in the South Pacific Missing my loving each night Now that I’m home I’ll go right Out and get me some POON-TANG! Now POON is a HUG…I wanted a hug so badly I was blowin my tropical top TANG is a kiss…I wanted a kiss so badly, Want the POON-TANG _never_ to stop! I don’t wanna eat and I don’t wanna sleep I got a yen that I’m dying to please Till I get weak in the knees Gonna get me that POON-TANG! A-huggin and a-kissin…that’s POON-TANG! A-huggin and a-kissin…that’s POON-TANG! A-huggin and a-kissin…that’s POON-TANG! POON-TANG! POON-TANG! Gonna get me some gonna get me some POON-TANG! – from “Poon-Tang!” recorded by the Treniers on the Okeh label, October 1952 This record was released along with a marketing gimmick: a food can labelled “THE TRENIERS: Extra Fancy Lower Alabama POONTANG. From the exclusive recipe of Miss Pussy Galore.” (It’s worth noting that Ian Fleming’s novel GOLDFINGER was not published until 1959.) Geez… I wonder how they got away with this? Was 1952 African-American R&B THAT far under the cultural radar? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/8 "2002-11-14T15:12:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lure \* > \*\*\<\*hijack \*\> One phrase we used that was made up on the spot was wussy (from pussy wussy-an infantile term for the cat) to denote what we considered sissies.A more socially aceptable word,we thought,than saying “he’s a pussy”. > > Did we actually create the morphed to “wuss”.That’s one I’d like to know.ca.'56-8 \*\* I though MIke Damone covered this in _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_: > [@](#): > > (paraphrase) > _“Rat, you’re a wuss … part wimp, part pussy.”_ ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/9 "2002-11-14T15:16:23Z")
**Ukelele Ike** That is hilarious _and_ thought-provoking! Where did you come across it? The Pussy Galore reference has to have led to Bond - too obvious to be coincidence. As for how they got away with it - great question; maybe the censors simply didn’t get it. Think about Little Richard’s lyrics (even after he cleaned them up for Top 40): _Good Golly, Miss Molly - sure like to ball_ _When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ - can’t hear your momma call_ Like that can mean anything other than (what we know see as) the obvious… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/10 "2002-11-14T15:33:03Z")
May I just say that I find the word “poontang” rather disgusting sounding? I dunno, it’s just…ick. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/11 "2002-11-14T15:45:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WordMan \* > \*\*Where did you come across it? \*\* It’s on the CD called _They Rock! They Roll! They Swing! The Best of the Treniers_. Legacy/Epic EK66800, released in 1995. The booklet has all the production info plus lotsa photos, including one of the Poontang can, and one of Claude Trenier shilling for bourbon. (“I’m Claude…and I like the smooth mellow flavor of EARLY TIMES! Every ounce a _man’s_ whiskey!”) ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/12 "2002-11-14T17:52:28Z")
> [@](#): > > _WordMan wrote: > Good Golly, Miss Molly - sure like to ball_ I’ve heard Little Richard sing “sure liked the ball,” as in a dance. And that seems to fit the song. I was born in 1961, so I’m too young to have first-hand knowledge, so was your version what was popularly understood? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/13 "2002-11-15T00:15:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Now POON is a HUG…I wanted a hug so badly > I was blowin my tropical top > TANG is a kiss…I wanted a kiss so badly, Given that Tom Wolfe was using the word in a mainstream novel nearly 30 odd years before Nugent was born, I’m pretty sure that Ted was simply trying to get past _his_ Top 40 censors with his “redefinition” of the words. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poontang-and-pussy-whipped/136684/14 "2002-11-15T00:16:28Z")
Or the Treniers, either.