# Whoops-a-Daisy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 4, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902 "2002-10-04T22:28:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/1 "2002-10-04T22:28:01Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwhoopsadaisy.html](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”? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/2 "2002-10-05T00:48:08Z")
Oops is indeed related to whoops. Probably. Read [Word Detective’s](http://www.word-detective.com/072302.html#oops) 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_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/3 "2002-10-05T03:24:52Z")
Thanks, Sam. I guess that’s proof that ESP and pre-cognitive dissonance are real, huh? ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/4 "2002-10-06T20:43:50Z")
I _knew_ you were going to say that! ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2002, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/5 "2002-10-08T11:11:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2002, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/6 "2002-10-08T11:32:31Z")
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. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2002, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/7 "2002-10-08T16:38:23Z")
> [@](#): > > The first use of “whoops-a-daisy” per se is around 1925, in a New Yorker cartoon. 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!**. ---
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2002, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/8 "2002-10-08T20:03:09Z")
Could “whoop” be onomatopoeic? ---
**Author:** ![Wooglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@Wooglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wooglin)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2002, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/9 "2002-10-08T22:24:10Z")
all i gots tah say is, “BIG WHOOP.” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2002, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/10 "2002-10-08T23:29:40Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/11 "2002-10-09T02:13:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoops-a-daisy/130902/12 "2002-10-09T02:44:29Z")
**everton**. Never doubted your take on it for a moment.