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From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: pooh-pooh (Re: odd definitions)
Message-ID: <1345@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 19-Mar-85 23:06:07 EST
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.1345
Posted: Tue Mar 19 23:06:07 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 21-Mar-85 02:24:03 EST
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> > pooh'-pooh'  A reduplication of pooh.
> > 
> > pooh'-pooh', or pooh'pooh' the'o.ry  The theory that language orginated in
> > 	interjections which gradually acquired meaning.  Cf. BOWWOW THEORY,
> > 	DINGDONG THEORY
> 
	In some areas of publishing, it can be difficult to prove that
> someone is copying your work.  Often publishers producing things like
> maps, or dictionaries will put bogus entries into the work. ...  I believe
> you have stumbled across one of these tracer-tags.

To which I say: pooh!  :-)

Seriously, I think both definitions are legitimate.

"Reduplication" is a process of great importance in some languages and not
at all unusual in English whereby a word is doubled, sometimes with no
specific change in meaning.  Look elswhere in the same dictionary and you'll
probably find the entry:

	bye'-bye'   A reduplication of bye.

As for the second definition, there was once a family of theories of the
origin of language with intentionally comical names.  Although I doubt that
any of the theories was ever seriously believed to tell the whole story,
they all had something going for them as partial explanations as to how
language may have begun.  The "ding-dong" theory, for instance, held that
language was original onomotopoeic, i.e., the original words imitated the
objects or processes they denoted ("ding-dong" or something like it being
the word for a bell).  The "yo-heave-ho" theory claimed that language
originated as grunts made in the course of bodily exertion.  I don't recall
having heard of the "pooh-pooh" theory, but it certainly fits in with the
others.  Take a look at any old-fashioned textbook on introductory
linguistics and you'll find some of these theories mentioned.

--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle
--- riddle@ut-sally.UUCP, riddle@ut-sally.ARPA, riddle%zotz@ut-sally