Did you ever think of a word that has more than one meaning that you never use? I never thought that the word “poop” would have so many different meanings and figures of speech.  To think that a simple word can go back so far in history with so many different terms.
 When I first thought of a word to do, I was going to do a slang term.  But when I thought about it, I wanted to use a word that would be so common, but used so many different ways even slang.  I also wanted to think of a term that some people use that means a certain thing to them and no one else.   A word that everyone, adults and children, use that is kind of a silly word.  Those are some of the reasons why I used the word “poop”.

         I only thought that poop could be used in three different ways.  One would be an adjective saying that the person is in a bad mood. Such as “She is in a poopy mood”.  Then the verb use as in being tired: “I am going to go poop”.  Of course there is the way that everyone knows as a synonym for feces, which is used as a noun.  As I read all the different definitions I realized that there were many more ways of using such a small word.

         The first time the one came about was in the year 1386.  Chaucer used this word describing an abrupt sound.  Making a tooting noise from an instrument.  A small tooting noise that is not very loud.  Udall Royster describing a noise from a recorder also used this in 1553.  I never personally used this word as describing such a small sound.  This definition was carried all the way through 1919 in a book explaining the sound of an anti-aircraft gun being heard in the distance.  In the Undertones of War, written by Blunden, stated that in the battlefield the guns ‘pooped off’.  The guns fired off on people as suppose to objects.  Not until 1937 was shooting people the only way that this term was used.  Then it was used as discharging objects at a high rate of force.  For example you could poop a ball into a net, or throw an object into another object.  Around that time frame, Ray N.C. said that if he poops, it simply means that he is taking gulps when he drinks.

         A form of action towards others came about in the 1970’s as well.  ‘Scaring the poop out of him’ was stated as being so scared that he/she went to the bathroom in their pants.  The word poop used as a noun, was stated in a form of cause and effect. Around 1721, Bailey classified poop as a vulgar word meaning to break wind backwards softly or other bodily discharge. Many think that using ‘poop’ instead of ‘shit’ or ‘crap’ is very less vulgar.  You do not see a three year old with his/her mother saying, “Mommy, I have to shit”.  I have not yet figured it out why this is used instead of the other options.  Maybe it sounds more innocent and not as harsh.  Partridge Dictionary defined pooping in the late 1930’s as to a reference when children defecate.  It was used towards children more than it was to adults.  Until 1976 a women stated to a newspaper reporter that a bird pooped on her head saying it was the ‘bird poop treatment’.  As in a result to this it cured her of a horrible dandruff problem she faced.
 
         A man by the name of Woolf described a foolish person as a poop.  Stating in his book, Voyage Out, someone who was stupid enough to get dressed up for a non-formal occasion.  Sapper described in his 1924 book, Third Round, of a man being “a harmless
old poop”.  In other words saying the man was nothing to be afraid of due to his foolishness.  In 1977 ‘poop-head’ was used to make a comment on how miserable a person was.  Also this was a way to tell a person how miserable he/she is.  Either it had to do with the individual being mad or depressed in a sense.  How dull or stupid a person is mentally was carried on throughout the years.  The weather is usually compared as ‘poopy’ when it is unsatisfactory to one.  When anything is unpleasant it is considered poopy.

         In the verb tense, to poop someone is to simply cheat him/her on something.  The example used was “He’s going to poop me on the deal!”  This origin is unknown and the time frame is not stated as well in Webster’s Dictionary.  In the late 1970’s a device was invented using the word poop.  The ‘pooper-scooper’ was invented to clean up poop from dogs in public places.

         American Speech’s 1941 definition for poop had to do with written information or a bulletin.  Originally called a ‘poop sheet’, this was referred to the latest notes on a certain subject or plan.  Malamud’s New Life in 1961 said to look at a poop sheet for the list of nominees.  Asking for a poop sheet on an individual is basically information on the person’s standings.

         Being ‘pooped’ started in 1932’s American Speech meaning to be tired or done using it as transitive sense slang.  This was basically used at first for someone to describe how exhausted he/she was.    In the book Young Manhood it was used to express a car’s engine dying or breaking down.  Other synonyms for this word are konks, die, blown out, and forced down.  To quit if you are tired relates this way as well.  The origin for this definition is unknown, but was used around the same time as tired was used.  Today I still hear people use this version of the word everyday.

         One way that I never hear poop used is when dealing with a ship as a transitive verb.  When talking about wave pooping this meant that the wave broke over the stern of the ship.  This was first used in 1748, although the origin is unknown to the Oxford English Dictionary.  It used the term ‘poop us’ meaning that the wave was so massive that it hit them on the ship.  It could also mean to receive a wave according to a newspaper in 1894.  If an enormous wave was pooped, then you received the wave.
 I hardly ever hear older people use this word on a daily basis.  If I do it is usually used in a sense that everyone knows.  Before I wrote this paper and did research I never knew some of these terms and definitions.  I do not think I am going to use them the way I recently learned them.  This is only because I do not come into contact with ships, information boards, and guns in my life.  To my friends and I we usually use poop for the basic meanings.  If we have to go to the bathroom, or if we are tired are the only times we use the term.  When I ask my dog if she wants to go to the bathroom, I usually say, “Want to go poop?”  Sometimes when we call each other names, “poop head” is a word that is used quite often.  Especially when we are in front of our parents, and that is the only civil thing to call each other without getting a dirty look.  Also instead of swearing, if the need is there, we say poop instead of the vulgar words.  Therefore I do not find any other reason to use these terms the way they were said earlier in life.
 I do not understand how some of these terms came about.  For a word to mean one thing, and then have a completely different meaning is beyond me.  All it does is
change cases, and a new definition appears.  How could your feces mean information, and be the same case?

         It amuses me that a word that I personally use on a regular basis has more meanings than I thought it did.  To realize that this word was used way back in history with books, famous authors, and poetry in ways that no one uses today amazed me.  Chaucer and other famous, for example, authors used the word in many different ways as I stated in earlier in the paper.  I really cannot think of any other ways I use the word that is not already in the English dictionary.  Just about every possible classification of poop has been thought of, and written about.  I am sure that in the future there will be many more actions for this expression.

Katie Valenti