": : The popular talk show host has popularized "cutie patootie" and I know what it means. I also know that horse's patoot refers to his posterior. What I'm interested in knowing is how the word patoot came to mean buttox. Is there some form or part of the words that have origins elsewhere? Any help? : The only reference of mine that even has this word is the Dictionary of American Slang, and it doesn't give it the "backside" definition: : ENTRY FOR PATOOTIE: 1. A sweetheart. 1948: "New Yorkers . . . tell their patooties how pretty they are. . . . " . . . From "hot patootie." 2. A girl, usu. a pretty one. : ENTRY FOR HOT PATOOTIE: A man's sweetheart; a sexually attractive, passionate girl or woman. . . . Fairly common c1930 use. : I'm wondering whether "patootie" began as an alteration of "potato." Colonel Potter on M.A.S.H. TV show used to use the phrase horse's patoot to refer to the horse's backside. His character also called horse shit horse puckey which I had never heard before. It was part of his character to use peculiar euphemisms. Perhaps the show's writers made that particular usage up? " Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/8/messages/489.html

patootie (U.S. slang) a sweetheart, girl-friend; a pretty girl suggested by sweetheart http://www.answers.com/topic/patootie patoot: Watered-down word for butt. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=patoot The consonants "P" and "B" are labials. Hence, the word "Patoot" is cognate with "Butt".