Poo and Wee

[Lynnieshell]

Why are these so named? I don't see a link from the medical terms.

[mikewith]

They are pretty childish-sounding, aren't they? I imagine they developed as words that were easy for young kids to say and understand.

[xyzzyplugh]

They are both onomatap'ic as they reflect our sensations of poo disgust and wee relief. :-)

[Quizmonster]

'Poop' - which later became just 'poo' - was childhood slang as far back as the 1740s for passing wind or defecating. It took that name because the same word had been used to mean a sudden blast of sound from a musical instrument at least two centuries earlier still.

'Wee' or 'wee-wee' are just echoes of 'pee' and 'pee-pee'. These first appeared in the prim and proper Victorian days. 'Pee' was simply the sound of the letter 'P', which is, of course, the first letter of the much more crude word often used for the process! (I refer to the four-letter one that ends in double-s.) In order to be genteel, parents would suggest that their toddlers might need a 'pee' rather than the supposedly coarse full-word alternative. 'Wee' is a relatively recent variant of that, dating from the 1930s only.

[paulperoni]

because if they were called woop and saap, you'd ask why are they called woop and saap!

[brooklyn77]

Love that last answer..very funny. My understanding is that 'poo' comes from the latin word poopumila, which means 'dirty mess', so hence a shortened word 'poo' and 'wee' comes from the latin word 'weetral' as in 'weetral serpia' which means 'gushing fountain'. Wee means gushing. It has again been shortened to 'wee' over the years. If you believe that, then good luck too you.