Date: Wed, 19 Apr 1995 11:30:59 -0700

From: Peter McGraw pmcgraw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CALVIN.LINFIELD.EDU

Subject: Re: [p*tut]



Larry,



Are you sure you remember this right? I remember only "You bet your

sweet bippie" on Laugh-In, whereas I think I remember hearing a song once

long ago (pre-Laugh-In) called "Sweet Patootie Pie," which clearly

referred to the dessert sweet potato pie.



Peter McGraw

Linfield College

McMinnville, OR





On Wed, 19 Apr 1995, Larry Horn wrote:



I've never heard 'patoot', but I'm quite familiar with its diminutive, which is

usually found in the context of "You bet your sweet patootie." (I somehow

associate this with the late 60's TV show Laugh-In.) I always assumed the

patootie is, in fact, the human hindquarters, but I'm unsure on the derivation.

It does not seem likely to be an ablaut variant of '[sweet] potato'.



Larry