It's a hoot!

[Sallie Lemons]

>
> I use this expression regularly, meaning "That's really funny!". I think I
> picked it up from my wife. We both grew up in NYC in the late fifties and early
> sixties. She grew up in the East Village and is more likely to have picked up
> expressions influenced directly or indirectly by gay men's usage than I, growing
> up on the Upper West Side (and in the social community I lived in).
>
> OTOH, we both went to college at CCNY (late sixties - early seventies) and
> graduate school at UC Berkeley (mid/late seventies), so we might have picked it
> up there.
>
> I grew up in NYC, went to school on the Upper West Side (including graduate
> school) and, as you all now by now,  had parents from the midwest. I've been using
> "hoot" since childhood. I'm not sure where I picked it up from but it has always
> meant "funny" in my lexicon as well. Not aware of any gay influence here, but ...