hocking loogies

Benjamin Barrett gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM
Thu Oct 13 21:50:51 UTC 2011


With apologies for making this disgusting thread even more so (okay, so I have a weak stomach), here is a video showing nasal action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN_ycdU-AtU

The Urban Dictionary says it involves both the nasal passage and the throat:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hawk%20a%20loogy

-----
To suck in nasal material into the throat and then push into the mouth to make it material available to spit out.
I can hawk a loogy and hit a rock.
-----

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

On Oct 13, 2011, at 2:44 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:

> 
> 
> Dave Wilton's link =
> (http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/hawk_a_loogie/) and =
> OED 3 discuss clearing the throat.
> 
> As a kid, I was always amazed by the kids that could hock properly--I =
> never could. But it seemed to me it is a gathering of the mucous in the =
> nasal passage, not the throat, and specifically, the collection of a =
> booger accompanied with snot.
> 
> Also, I don't see "hock" or "loogie" or other variants in the OED. =
> (Actually, my first attempt to find this word was as hurk, but Google =
> corrected me and elementary school is too distant for me to try to fight =
> it.)
> 
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA
> 
> On Oct 13, 2011, at 5:25 AM, Charles C Doyle wrote:
> 
>> =20
>> Those of us who still pronounce "open o's" recognize that the =
> customary spelling of the gerund is "hawking," which corresponds with =
> OED's "hawk" v.3.
>> =20
>> --Charlie
>> =20
>> ________________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of =
> Benjamin Barrett [gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM]
>> Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 2:14 AM
>> =
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -----
>> =20
>> I don't see this in the OED. Is there another way to express the =
> action of gathering in the nose the mucus required to make a solid mass, =
> surrounded by liquid, in preparation for spitting?
>> =20
>> The Columnist Manifesto wonders whether it makes sense to have a =
> standardized spelling for this =
> (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=3Dcache:FgAD879HGuQJ:theco=
> lumnistmanifesto.blogspot.com/2005/07/how-do-you-spell-loogie.html+%22hock=
> +a+loogie%22&cd=3D4&hl=3Den&ct=3Dclnk&gl=3Dus).
>> =20
>> Benjamin Barrett
>> Seattle, WA
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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