Canada, Eh?

[FRITZ JUENGLING]

>>> "Peter A. McGraw" <pmcgraw at LINFIELD.EDU> 11/28/01 11:56AM

Just one more thing--could you explain to some of us south-of-the-border
types what "hoser" means?  (Not related to "Hoosier," eh?)

When I was in high school (south of the border) 'hoser' was a slang term for   some guy who used his, umm, 'hose' indiscriminately .  Needless to say, I was VERY surprised to hear this on the radio and toob when Doug and Bob hit the scene.
 'Dork' is another word that leaves me a little uneasy when I hear someone, especialy an adult, say it in public.

Fritz J

--On Wednesday, November 28, 2001 2:33 PM -0500 Paul McFedries
<lists at MCFEDRIES.COM> wrote:

> "Eh" is used much less frequently nowadays, and you can blame (or praise)
> the SCTV characters Bob and Doug McKenzie. Before they came along,
> appending "eh" to the end of a sentence was as natural as breathing for
> many Canadians. The McKenzie brothers exaggerated this trait and, thanks
> to their eventual popularity, inexorably linked the use of "eh" to the
> unattractive "hoser" demographic. So although, as Herb Stahlke pointed
> out, "eh" remains popular in working class settings (and with true hosers
> of all classes), the decline of "eh" among the rest of the population
> (particularly in Toronto) proceeded in four steps:



****************************************************************************
                               Peter A. McGraw
                   Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
                            pmcgraw at linfield.edu