poop, n.⁴ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

poop n.⁴

[OED suggests ety. unknown, but ? fig. use of poop n.² (3) as synon. for shit n. (3i)]

(orig. US)

1. news, information, gossip.

1941		‘Army Sl.’ AS XVI:3 167/2: poop sheet, drill schedule or any written announcement.
1942		C.R. Bond 5 Jan. in A Flying Tiger’s Diary (1984) 109: We sent Bill Bartling to Kumming with complete poop on the situation here for the Old Man.
1954		Mad mag. Oct. 12 [title of lampooned newspaper] Daily Poop.
1959		S. Bellow Henderson The Rain King 180: I’m going to give you the straight poop about myself, as straight as I can make it.
1963		M. Spillane Return of the Hood 65: I gave him the poop on Karen Sinclair’s kidnapping.
1978		(con. WWII) T. Sanchez Hollywoodland (1981) 74: Winchell gets his inside stuff from President Roosevelt himself. It’s the straight poop.
1983		N. Proffitt Gardens of Stone (1985) 178: I got a list of names and a little poop on ’em.
1990		E. Ruggero 38 North Yankee 316: So you both got the same poop.
2023		T. Pluck What Pluckery Is This 1 Feb. 🌐 Americans love inside baseball. They love feeling like an insider. Knowing the inside poop. How things really work.

2. (also straight poop) the facts, the situation.

1952		K.C. Lamott Stockade 80: Ask the Madame what’s the poop on that crazy gee-sha.
1966		(con. 1958) R. Farina Been Down So Long (1972) 157: What’s the old poop, David? You’ve been hinting.
1972		Chopper Mag. Jan. 23/1: In order to get the straight poop on speeding up the Sportster, we consulted two eminent PHDs (Professor of Harley-Davidsons).
1983		R. Price Breaks 387: My voice and face had come on like the straight poop since we sat down.
1987		(con. 1968) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 278: You get any good poop, maybe we better think about somebody going in the Octopus.

poop sheet (n.) (also poop shit)

(orig. US milit.) any form of information posted on a noticeboard or distributed to students.

1941		‘Gloss. of Army Sl.’ in AS XVI:3 167/2: Poop sheet, drill schedule or any written announcement.
1948		Lay & Bartlett Twelve O’clock High! (1975) 23: I see you’ve read that poop-sheet from headquarters.
1954		J. Dille Substitute for Victory 130: ‘Remember,’ advised another poop sheet, ‘that to our Korean allies personal dignity (‘Face’) is as important as a healthy bankroll is to most Americans.’.
1968		B.H. Wolfe Hippies 97: Charlie distributed a poop sheet to his students that ended this way: ‘There will be a 24-hour-long final and man you better know your stuff.’.
1978		L.K. Truscott IV Dress Gray (1979) 198: The kid was a homosexual. Confirmed. [...] Poop-sheets and poop-sheets on the kid being queer.
1984		W. Diehl Hooligans (2003) 24: Don’t bullshit me, [...] You haven’t read the weekly poop shit.
2002		N.U. Fox Extra Joker 165: Paul checked the poop sheet with the Operations Officer.

hot poop (n.) [hot adj. (2c)]

the latest news or gossip.

1945		N.Y. Folklore Quarterly 24: [...] the US military man is wont to say ‘What’s the hot poop?’.
1958		(con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 59: What’s the hot poop, Wally? Where we goin’?
1978		S. Longstreet Straw Boss 43: The hot poop gossip is that their chicken colonel will get the DSC.
1988		Fry & Clark Best Newspaper Writing, 1988 253: I don’t say to the reader, ‘Oooo, here’s some hot poop about this person, with whom I shared many a martini.’.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 34: That was hot poop.
2004		B. Miles Zappa: A Biography 191: The hot poop inside story? Do you expect me to have inside information about Berkeley because I live in America?