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