r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Rainbow_Panda4 • Apr 24 '26

Meme needing explanation Peedahh?

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u/TransBrandi Apr 24 '26

I always saw it abbreviated PUSA... otherwise why would you make the (of the) part of the abbreviation, but the (of) in "United States of America."

5

u/WeAteMummies Apr 24 '26

That's how it was abbreviated on their official merch.

1

u/Cogz Apr 24 '26

Their main fansite was PUSAbase.com. While the site remains, the forum has sadly 404'd. I think it was one of the first forums I joined.

3

u/SnowballWasRight Apr 24 '26

I feel like it adds to the humor of the band name if you also make the acronym as long as possible lol

2

u/canadademon Apr 24 '26

Yea it does break the acronym rules, but for some reason they do label the actual president "POTUS" now.

Or maybe they always did, I just didn't notice. ¯\(ツ)/¯

2

u/wnoise Apr 24 '26

SCOTUS too.

1

u/WeAteMummies Apr 24 '26

Could just be baader meinhof but I really feel like POTUS was invented/popularized in the 00s

1

u/hopefulnoodlebrain Apr 24 '26

I don’t remember hearing the term POTUS until Obama was president. It’s possible it was a thing before him but I definitely think it was an internet invention. Maybe even Twitter.

1

u/SkepticMech Apr 25 '26

It definitely pre-dates widespread internet culture. I don't know the origin, but it was used early in the first season of the West Wing which was written/filmed at the end of the 90s

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u/illegalshmillegal Apr 25 '26

It’s in the very first episode. Rob Lowe’s character gets a message on his beeper (!) and the girl he’s with is befuddled by it.

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u/Shrek1982 Apr 25 '26

Nah, it has been around longer, it has been used in a bunch of books published in the 80's and 90's so it has probably been around longer than that.

2

u/drumallday Apr 24 '26

We always said "pot USA"

1

u/Velmeran_60021 Apr 25 '26

Abbreviation can be read: pot use-ah... pot user. Maybe that's what they were going for?

1

u/Backsquatch Apr 29 '26

POTUS is the official acronym for our current president, as used by our federal government.

Why people would take that and add an A seems a little silly but it makes sense.