Hoser (1981)

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>I remember when the MacKenzie brothers came out with their 'song' and was
>VERY surprised that it could be played on regular ol' radio
>stations.  When I was in HS and college a 'hose' was a  'penis' and a
>'hoser' was a guy who used his 'hose' as often as he could with the gals.

How could it be otherwise? "Hose" for "penis" is an obvious metaphor and I
heard it repeatedly in the 1960's ... although it was not one of the more
frequent terms in this application. "Hose" as a verb equivalent to the
F-word or "lay pipe" was more frequent. "I've been hosed" and "You [stupid]
hoser" are very transparent euphemisms, I believe.

Perhaps the Toronto newspaper just published the half-dozen non-obscene
etymological suggestions which arrived, and discarded the hundreds of
letters which expressed the majority [and correct] interpretation?

Isn't "hose monster" based on Sesame Street's "Cookie Monster" (who always
wants a cookie)?

-- Doug Wilson