difference between "huff" and "puff"

[kjc0123]

What is the difference between "huff" and "puff" in the following sentence?

 

"He huffed and puffed as he made his way up the mountain."

[Ouisch]

They're basically the same thing - just an example of how hard he was breathing while climbing the mountain.

[Xollob]

No real difference, just a nice combination of onomatopeia and rhyming reduplication.

[Quizmonkey]

'Huff and puff' is a phrase, almost treated as a single verb - using just one of them in the same sentence wouldn't sound right.

[THECORBYLOON]

We say "puff and pech" wi the "ch" as in "loch."

[jno]

the phrase is widely known in English because it appears in a popular story for little children, called The Three Little Pigs. When they built houses, the big bad wolf would come round to try to catch them, and say 'I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down.'

Puff is quite a common word on its own, but huff almost never appears without puff.

[Markandshez]

Surely with Huff, you do it with your mouth open, whilst a puff starts with a closed mouth

 

Or am I just being too simple?

[commoner]

...Huff is to breathe IN whilst Puff is to breathe OUT.....try it...it even sound right..<G>......commoner