HOOPALISTIC?

[JP Villanueva]

That "hacking sound" is definately a way to keep a rhythmic cadence; I
think we're talking about an extra syllable added at the end of a phrase.
Something like:  "Jesus-ha!  Jesus-uh!  has been good-uh!  has been so
good to me-uh!"  It's a parallel to when a preacher emphasizes the rhymes
in a phrase.  It's a register that elicits a lot of affirmative response
because it signifies that the preacher has caught 'the Spirit.'

"Hoopalistic" sounds like a spontaneous coinage; if I wanted to refer to
it, I would simply refer to a preacher I know who does it.  As for the
sledgehammer hypothesis, somebody just made it up.  File that one in the
same file as pumpernickel='pain-pour-nichole.'  Folk etymology.

                        -johnpatrickVillanueva-
                        -----------------------
                          jvillanu at ctc.ctc.edu


On Fri, 30 Jun 2000 RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:

> This from a recent article in my local newspaper:
>
> "_Hoopalistic_ is that particular style of preaching with the hacking sound
> following each sentence, used primarily by black preachers. It's also
> referred to as a rhythmic cadence. That . . . style of preaching has its
> roots in the sound made by black workers when they raise heavy sledgehammers,
> etc. overhead and slam them down."
>
> Any wisdom on this? I checked Geneva Smiterhman's TALKIN' THAT TALK and found
> nothing about the hacking sound. However, I am dubious about this origin
> story, in part because the "rhythmic cadence" is a practice of white
> preachers as well.
>