Tuesday, 28 December 2010

OED and pooh as an interjection

credit: Mikey Mets
Pooh or poo according to OED is a slang term, originally a nursery term, for faeces or excrement. The 1989 edition transcribes it as /puː, puːh/. In the 3rd edition we find the puzzling "Brit." transcription /p(h)uː/. In all probability this is a typographical error. I sent an email to OUP to inform them about it.
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2 comments:

  1. JWL7 January 2011 at 13:06

    The OED /p(h)uː/might more meticulously have separated the phonological version /puː/ from the interjectional impressionistic-phonetic [phu] — for that matter also possibly [pɸuː] — tho LPD doesnt list such variants and EPD doesnt even have the word.

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  2. Kraut7 January 2011 at 17:13

    @JWL: If what you assume is true, then OED's transcription is fairly infelicitous and easily misinterpreted (as it was by me).

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