Ever wonder where the terms “pootie” and “woozle” came from, exactly? They aren’t terms used by the general public for “cat” and “dog”. The Helpdesk merely says:
For reasons lost in the mist of time, pootie = cat and woozle = dog.
The reasons aren’t really lost in the mist of time, though. Let’s see where they came from….
BTW, I only look at (and do enjoy) pootie-type diaries occasionally, but I was simply curious about this, so I went on a bit of a search mission to try and figure it out. My apologies if you already know.
The term “pootie” certainly did appear in many comments and diaries from the get-go, but at first it was only used in a “Pootie-Poot” or “Pooty-Poot” context to refer among other things to Dubya’s now-infamous statement that he’d looked into Putin’s eyes and seen the man’s soul.
But the first instance of “pootie” in any comment or diary that refers to cats is from December 9, 2004. (Unfortunately links to pictures from this long ago are mostly dead, as far as I can tell.)
I couldn’t help but feel a teeny bit of reverence when I found it (underline is mine):
Yesterday's news., Sarge--..we have to move on
here's a pic of my cat, for real -- cross my heart -- no funny stuff -- her name's Pootie:
(sorry for the white space; I don't know how to crop or do anything fancy
About a year later, SallyCat reflects on the significance of the term (December 23, 2005):