Northern vs Southern: Pee Pie

I am a product of parents from the Northeastern US, but I live in the Southeast, and let me tell you: those regions of the country do not speak the same language.

I have scads of examples, but this one has been cropping up a lot lately.

Pee pie.

Is that some kind of sick dessert joke?

Because that’s what it sounds like to me.

No, it is Southern for peak-a-boo. Example: I was playing pee pie with my baby to keep him distracted at the doctor’s office.

Today, I heard a vet tech use it as a “term of endearment” for my cat. I had to put that in quotation marks because my cat doesn’t really endear herself to the vet staff or any other humans for that matter.

I’m not saying that peak-a-boo is a ten-cent word, but pee pie? I somehow doubt pee pie is going to make it into my vocabulary.

Apparently, pee pie might actually be a mispronunciation of “peep eye,” in which case it’s not nearly as gross and makes a lot more sense. But I’m telling you, I hear “pee pie” every time.

17 thoughts on “Northern vs Southern: Pee Pie

  1. I have a similar story. Where I grew up (NE Texas), "bobo" was a term for your butt. Then when I moved to Mississippi, I found out it was a term for a hurt spot when a kid I was babysitting came up to me and said "Kiss my bobo."

    1. Kiss my booboo. It’s a double OO as in, “Boo! I scared you.”

  2. LOL That is hilarious. I'll bet you were totally grossed out the first time you heard that one.

  3. I live in Alabama and play peep eye with my babies instead of peek a boo. It is both said here but I grew up with peep eye so that is what I automatically say. It is peep eye but it kinda runs to sound like pee pie. Oh and we say bobo too!.

  4. I was playing with my grandbaby – putting a cloth over his eyes saying “pee pie” and my husband exclaimed to the babys parents “I think she is playing peek a boo, but she says pee pie”. Seriously, I had no idea it wasn’t called pee pie. I am from south Texas.

  5. We love pee pie!!! I’ve never lived anywhere but the South and that’s how we have always said it! I didn’t know people didn’t know what it was?

  6. It’s peep eye! Born and raised in the south…Ya’ll need to learn how to speak Southern! It’s all in the drawl!

  7. I’m from Texas- my mother uses peepie as a term of endearment for my daughter. It hit me this morning that I’ve never heard anyone else use that word. (I didn’t know some folks call peek-a-boo peep eye.) I found your blog because I was searching for how it was spelled, what it meant, it’s origin etc . All this time I thought it was ‘pea pie’ and it was only this morning when it dawned on me that pea pies aren’t a thing. Haha- glad to see your vet, my mom, and me use it. There are dozens of us. Dozens. Ha!

    1. It’s funny how these phrases come about, but it makes sense how “peep eye” would evolve into Pee Pie as a term of endearment. I don’t think there’s an official way to spell it. (I just checked. Websters is silent on the matter of Pee Pie. LOL)

  8. I love this..my grandsons, call me Pea-Pie, instead of that horrible grandma, Grammy, GiGi, etc.. my husband is PotPie. We live in North East Texas. I was raised here, he was raised near Monroe, La. I am very happy to be Pea-Pie, for my beautiful grandsons, and one granddaughter, due 11/02/2019.

  9. I found this post as I (North Carolina) was explaining peep-eye to my husband (Indiana). My dad would play this with me when I was little, 50 years ago. There was no doubt that it was peep-eye, although when spoken, it sounds like pee pie. Also, my sweet dad would make “peep-eye biscuits” which were just regular biscuits with a pat of butter in the middle. But peep-eye biscuits are extra special because you must exclaim Peep-eye! When you pull the biscuit apart and see the butter! Such happy memories of my dad who passed away 7 years ago.

  10. OMG this is hilarious. I am the same – born of parents from the Northeast, but I was born, raised (and still live in) the Southeast. I feel the SAME WAY. My husband’s entire side of the family always says “pee pie” to my son and, it is not mistaken, they are not saying “peep eye” but that origin makes a lot of sense! Of course its a personal preference and I respect differences in any person’s upbringing but I don’t personally care for it… Funny enough, both of our families were together, and quietly my Dad asked me “umm why are they saying that to him?” and I laughed.

  11. I grew up in Alabama saying “peekaboo” but my husbands family from Alabama and Kentucky says “pee pie” I had never heard of pee pie until I dated him which is odd since it’s considered a southern saying.

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