BO and PU

In our last episode,
(Email Removed), the lovely and talented Harry den Dekker
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
[nq:1]Quickie: BO (body odor) I know. PU is the same, but what does the acronym stand for?[/nq]
It is not an acronym. It stands for "phew."

Lars Eighner finger for geek code (Email Removed)

[nq:2]Quickie: BO (body odor) I know. PU is the same, but what does the acronym stand for?[/nq]
[nq:1]It is not an acronym. It stands for "phew."[/nq]
Hmm. Not sure. Where's the aitch? I'd say it originated from "poo", said in reaction to the smell of the substance, applied to anything smelly. But I think that whenever someone writes "PU" they're thinking of the two individual letter sound

[nq:1]Quickie: BO (body odor) I know. PU is the same, but what does the acronym stand for?[/nq]
The acronym "PU" stands for "pick up." The symbol "Pu" is for plutonium. The form "pu'" is short for "pull."

Martin Ambuhl

[nq:1]Hmm. Not sure. Where's the aitch? I'd say it originated from "poo", saidin reaction to the smell of the substance, ... that whenever someone writes "PU" they're thinking of the two individual letter sounds "pee-you", which is how "PU" is pronounced.[/nq]
I don't think we have a word that means "what stinks?" that is pronounced "few" (as one wishes to pronounce "phew"). When I see "phew",

Adrian:
[nq:1]Hmm. Not sure. Where's the aitch?[/nq]
Doing it with yo' momma.

It hadn't occurred to me that if I say or write "phew" someone might think I was commenting on a smell. To me, it signifies relief, such as when I scrape a win on a poker hand. Or is this another word I'm going to have to stop using for fear of offending the illiterate?
Adrian

"Phew," like "tsk-tsk," has an original pronunciation the sound which the spelling was originally devised to represent and a spelling pronunciation. From *Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary,* 11th ed.:
(quote, with pronunciation represented by ASCII IPA)

Main Entry: phew
Pronunciation: a voiceless bilabial fricative usually followed by a voiceless /(j)u/ or /I./ sound; often

[nq:2]in[/nq]
[nq:1]I[/nq]
[nq:2]I don't think we have a word that means "what ... wishes to pronounce "phew"). When I see "phew", I gethung[/nq]
[nq:1]up[/nq]
But, Adrian. How would you say "phew"?
I understand that in some older US literature, "phew" was a synonym of "whew" (looks as though M-W considers it current, and keeps the "ph=f" sound, with no inkling of the "p" sound

[nq:1]Quickie: BO (body odor) I know. PU is the same, but what does the acronym stand for?[/nq]
I read somewhere that P.U. comes from the word "putrid". As I recall, the context was the selection of "Pu" as the symbol for plutonium. But I can't find anything about it on the web.
In a Bugs Bunny cartoon, "P.U." refers to Purdue University.

Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply)

(bandwidth-saving scheme)
[nq:1]What do the BrE dictionaries show?[/nq]
Maybe this is pondian. Chambers has no mention of smells under "phew", and the meaning "exclamation of...contempt" comes at the end of the list ("...relief" being first). The pronunciation is given as the same as "few". "Whew" is also listed (with the same definition as in the US) but I'd say "phew" is more common in t