Hootnanny (1918)

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Here "hootnanny" means "louse", apparently. Perhaps this is a
specialization of the usual early sense
"whatchamacallit"/"doohickey"/"thingamajig".

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_Evening State Journal and Lincoln Daily News_, Lincoln NE, 14 Feb. 1918:
p. 2, col. 4:

[by "Bugs" Baer, from New York]

<<There is a lawsuit on record in Chicago as unique as a country hotel
without hootnannies. A hootnanny is what the soldiers call a cootie.>>

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-- Doug Wilson