phooey
[foo-ee]
- (an exclamation indicating rejection, contempt, or disgust): Phooey on all those political promises!
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Origin of phooey
1925–30, Americanism; perhaps < German pfui! expression of disgust, conflated with English phoo! with similar force
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
phooey
- informal an exclamation of scorn, contempt, disbelief, etc
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Word Origin
C20: probably variant of phew
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for phooey
expression of contempt, 1929, from Yiddish, from German pfui (attested in English from 1866); popularized by Walter Winchell. Phoo "vocalic gesture expressing contemptuous rejection" is recorded from 1640s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper