On Dr. Evil's spacesuits in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me we can see a list of chemicals. The first two are obviously water and oxygen. But the final one, P^2 is not the notation for any chemical that I know of. "Pee squared" doesn't sound like something that I'd want in a spacesuit. Is it some sort of isotope? Or is it a joke or mistake?
1 Answer
Considering the rather lowbrow humour of the Austin Powers franchise, I'd say this is almost certainly a "pee" joke. As a matter of fact, real-life astronauts wear special diapers under their spacesuits, so they can go to the bathroom without soiling them or having to take them off.
As a side-note, P2 is the chemical formula for diphosphorus, but I doubt that's the reference here (note the subscript '2', as opposed to the superscript '2' on their suits).
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Since the lettering spells out "HOOP", I wonder if it might be an obscure reference into Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Jun 21, 2020 at 20:52
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@CGCampbell perhaps also pee-pee or poo-poo, and the ambiguity works for extra gross-out value.– aschultzMay 26, 2021 at 22:38