Washingtonians Get “Wee-Weed Up”?

Just as soon as President Barack Obama uttered the words Thursday afternoon, the reaction was nearly universal.

On Twitter, The Hill's Sam Youngman asked: "WTF does wee-weed up mean and how do you spell it?"

Real Clear Politics' Mike Memoli: "I don't know what that means."

The Associated Press' Phil Elliott: "Did the president just say Washington gets all "wee-wee-ed up" in August? Really?"

FOX News' Greta van Susteren would later say, "I don't know what that means."

What had happened? During Obama's remarks at a national health care forum, Obama said: "There's something about August going into September where everybody in Washington gets all wee-weed up. I don't know what it is. But that's what happens."

Next up were the jokes.

"When will birthers start saying that 'wee-weed up' is an old Kenyan Muslim saying?" wrote The Hill's Youngman on Twitter.

"Wondering if media elite latte consumption correlates to 'wee-weed up' factor?" tweeted Bloomberg's Lizzie O'Leary. "So am I wee-weed up? I thought it was just allergies."

The Weekly Standard's Mary Katharine Ham chimed in: "My little brothers often weeweed up the pool in August." And: "Yes, wee-wee, the sneakiest fear-monger. Tinkle, the silent consensus-killer."

AP's Elliott: "He's probably talking about urologists, who are famous for taking excessive urine samples for extra profit. So 'wee-wee-ed up.'"

Michelle Malkin blogged: "Is this some Chicago phrase I don't know about?"

Before you knew it, the term "wee weed" was a trending topic on Twitter, it had it's own Twitter handle (@weeweed) and its own domain name — www.weeweed.com.

Is this Obama-ism soon to become trendy enough to warrant an entry in Webster's dictionary?

Dictionary.com doesn't have an entry specifically for "wee-weed" but, for "wee wee", the online dictionary says that, in noun form, "wee wee" means "urine" and, as a verb, it means "to urinate."

But, clearly, Obama couldn't have been making potty jokes about health care, right?

After the original confusion and chuckles over "wee-weed" had passed, a consensus emerged that Obama meant the word to mean something along the lines of "riled up."

CNN's Ed Henry and Lou Dobbs later discussed the issue on air:

Dobbs: "What is this expression? I never heard it before. None of our folks here have heard of it before. What is 'wee weed up' as the president said?"

Henry: "I had a sneaking suspicion you might ask me that. And I hate not to have an answer for you. But I suspect — this is an educated guess —"

Dobbs: "No, no, no. Wait a minute. Do you know or do you not?"

Henry: "I don't know but I think based on my reporting abilities, I will suggest that he's suggesting that people are a little agitated, if you will, a little over-excited right now."

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