What does PU mean?

[Alexandre 2]

Okay, so most of us are familiar with the smogon tiers and what OU, BL, UU and NU mean. My very serious and haunting question is what does PU mean?

This was in the smogon forums, which helps a lot:
"PU (What does this even stand for) are the Pokemon that even NU doesn't want, basically Pokemon that have less than 3.41% usage in NU are technically "PU". In PU, some Pokemon - otherwise regarded as bottom of the barrel - could become top tier threats. With the Pokemon ranging from lovable Luvdisc to the raging Rampardos, it's your job to find out which Pokemon and strategies dominate the tier (like VolTurn in OU)."

The answer will probably come from the first person to post if there is one but I really want to know

[Fumble 52]

PU doesn't actually mean anything; it's just supposed to be represented by the saying "P.U." when something smells.

[Exalted 1]

man PU you smell get it its just a word play on the PU what we use to tel something is bad

[Odybld 70]

In my head it always meant "pretty useless" tbh. I never tried to interpret it any other way

[Alexandre 2]

Oh Arceus, it's a pun, because they stink! So funny

Welp, pretty useless is a good one, though, if you're trying to spell something. Thank you guys!

[Ironbound 110]

No issues. If you want an acronym worse than NeverUsed, you could always imagine it to be PoorlyUsed, PatheticallyUsed or even PraiseHelixWhyAreTheseEvenUsed.

[IdleThoughts 0]

And to think I put it above a website that refers to itself as Smogon University to degrade itself with such vulgar humor among their precisely defined tiers....

I like it. It's like a meme without pictures... what were those called again? Puns.

[Spineblade 20]

I initially imagined it to be a reference to the sound one makes when something stinks (because, like Alexandre said, they stink in competitive battle)

If I were to give an expansion to the acronym PU, though? I'd say Practically Useless.

[Combat 62]

I have a few for the theory pile! Perhaps in stands for Partially Unusable, or maybe Problematic Underachievers?

[Alexandre 2]

Yeah! I always thought of it as Poorly Used but it doesn't make that much sense...
Problematic Underachievers is just so patronizing, I almost feel bad for them.

And Idle, we all know Smogon has the most precise and justified tiers and organization in existence. Their bans are always the upmost righteous thing that's ever been done

[Rabbna 12]

I initially thought it was partialy used

[AuthorReborn 8]

Problematic Underacheivers is likely the best form of PU that we can find.

There is a shadowy tier under PU, however, that is only used as the "Other Meta of the Month" or by people who know of its existence. This tier is FU, which also has no acronym, but I'm sure you can guess what the FU thanks for. Basically, FU is to PU what PU is to NU: the bottom 3.whatever% of PU is then moved down to FU where maybe, just maybe, they can finally shine.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch 1650]

Since they don't see much competitive use, Pokemon in this tier spend their time Playing Undertale.

[Alexandre 2]

Problematic Underacheivers is likely the best form of PU that we can find.

There is a shadowy tier under PU, however, that is only used as the "Other Meta of the Month" or by people who know of its existence. This tier is FU, which also has no acronym, but I'm sure you can guess what the FU thanks for. Basically, FU is to PU what PU is to NU: the bottom 3.whatever% of PU is then moved down to FU where maybe, just maybe, they can finally shine.

We should really really play FU on Reborn Showdown! I don't really know what would come out of that...

Since they don't see much competitive use, Pokemon in this tier spend their time Playing Undertale.

I'm certain that's what they meant and, if this is true, then their time is well spent

[NickCrash 250]

In general every tier is comprised of the 3.41% of pokemon most used in it, with some being more viable than others. The BL lines you'll notice are safety locks that stop a pokemon from breaking the meta in the tier below. This % comes from the simple notion of: A pokemon that you have 50% chance of encountering in an opposing team if you play a casual 20 games per day, belongs to given tier. This roughly translates to the 3.41% usage. The only actual significance of it is the promotion some pokemon get from lower tiers which makes them unusable in their earlier tiers.

PU and FU don't stand for anything, but you can always make your own names. The more games we have, the more pokemon will be included, the more tiers will be needed, as the limit of 3.41% will not change. We may get a tier below that, called TU (standing for Thank You) or something similar.

[Tomas Elliot 1]

It could be worse. When they tried to make a tier BELOW PU, they named it FU...

[ej190 0]

I've always read it as "Pathetic & useless".

[Alexandre 2]

Well, that's a bit harsh xD Some of them actually do a pretty good job but are just not that popular... Like how in my Uber (kinda troll) team Chatot is my Primal Kyogre check. If it hits itself on confusion, it's bye bye xD

[Solarus 0]

Well, that's a bit harsh xD Some of them actually do a pretty good job but are just not that popular... Like how in my Uber (kinda troll) team Chatot is my Primal Kyogre check. If it hits itself on confusion, it's bye bye xD

Yeah I understand, I've gotten some major use out of my Swalot in UU, and he's in PU, here's a link to a replay where he wrecks a bunch of mons kinda http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-353975427 , also PU doesn't stand for anything, cz there to bad for an Acronym

[Drymus 0]

I always read PU as Particularly Useless

I also have an alternate interpretation of FU: Forever Useless