http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwhoopsadaisy.html
Well, the definition of “whoops” to me sounds awfully similar to “oops.” Can “oops” have been derived from “whoops”?
Oops is indeed related to whoops. Probably.
Read Word Detective’s take on it.
By the way, good job on the column, Dex. It’s always a pleasure reading what you’re gonna say next week. 
Thanks, Sam. I guess that’s proof that ESP and pre-cognitive dissonance are real, huh?
I knew you were going to say that!
The staff report also claimed that “whoopsie” is a child’s word for excrement in my country and warns visiting Americans to beware of confusing “making whoopie” with “making whoopsie”.
It’s certainly not a usage I’ve ever heard of, so can someone provide a cite for this? The closest I can think of is the whoopee cushion (farting joke cushion), which I assumed was equally known, and equally unfunny, both sides of the pond.
Agree with everton here – having lived in this country all my life (and in different parts of it), I’ve never heard “whoopsie” as a child’s term for excrement. You’re misleading our British friends.
Cartoonist Peter Arno, who first started contributing to the New Yorker in 1925 first became famous for a series of cartoons featuring a pair of slightly tipsy sisters, whose catch phrase was “whoops.” They became known as the “Whoops Sisters.” His first book was called Whoops Dearie!.
Could “whoop” be onomatopoeic?
all i gots tah say is, “BIG WHOOP.”
everton Whoopsie *is cited by the OED since 1973 to mean what Dex said. It might not be as common as all that, but I can give you cites from BBC, Punch, etc.
OK samclem, I’ll take your word for it that it’s in the OED and ask you to take my word for it that nobody would use the phrase “making whoopsie”.
Having said that, I have just remembered the BBC’s vehicle for Michael Crawford called Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em in which his preposterous character, Frank Spencer, did indeed complain that the cat had “done a whoopsie” in his slippers or whatever. I’ve never heard it anywhere else, but thanks for saving me a trip to the library.
everton. Never doubted your take on it for a moment.