Origin of "hoopie"

[Wilson Gray]

Don't leave me hanging, Jon! Who / what was "Mott The Hoople" and
how'd he / it get that name?

WRT fez-wearing, you are correct, sir!

-Wilson

On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 1:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>  Subject:      Re: Origin of "hoopie"
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  The band took its name from the 1966 novel by Willard Manus.
>
>   Maj. Hoople was the only person I ever saw who wore a fez.  Except for Laurel & Hardy in "Sons of the Desert."  And Akbar & Jeff.
>
>   JL
>
>  Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  Sender: American Dialect Society
>  Poster: Wilson Gray
>  Subject: Re: Origin of "hoopie"
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  There was Major Hoople, a chracter in the cartoon, Our Boarding House.
>  More recently, there was the band, Mott The Hoople.
>
>  -Wilson
>
>  On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 11:09 AM, Jonathan Lighter
>  wrote:
>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  > Sender: American Dialect Society
>  > Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>  > Subject: Re: Origin of "hoopie"
>  > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >
>  > FWIW, Lee Pederson in _American Speech_ 1980 reported "hoople" [sic] as a synonym for "hayseed...hick..hillbilly...yokel [etc.]." Evidently a typo, though "hoople" has seen some use in the sense of "lunkhead."
>  >
>  > "Hoopie" is in DARE. T.H. White thought in 1965 it referred to all West Virginians, and a recent ref. at Google Books specifies that "hoopies" are from "the southern part" of WV.
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  > JL
>  >
>  > Patti Kurtz wrote:
>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  > Sender: American Dialect Society
>  > Poster: Patti Kurtz
>  > Subject: Origin of "hoopie"
>  > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >
>  > Hi everyone. A student in my composition class asked me "what's the origin
>  > of the term "hoopie" (slang for someone from WV?" I didn't know (but I
>  > recall using this politically incorrect term as a college student in SW PA),
>  > so I got curious and thought I'd ask here. I did a little googling and
>  > found a suggestion that it comes from "hooper" (one who fits hoops around
>  > barrels) because of the fact that people from the hills would come into
>  > town to buy hoops for their barrels (presumably for moonshine, maybe?) is
>  > this accurate? I checked my "shorter" OED (sorry, it's all I have
>  > available) and found no entry on "hoopie."
>  >
>  > This is for my curiosity, not for the student's research or anything-- it
>  > was just a discussion question he raised and it rang a bell with me because
>  > of my experience with the term.
>  >
>  > Thanks.
>  >
>  > Patti Kurtz
>  > Minot State University
>  >
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
 -Sam'l Clemens

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org