Origin of "hoopie"

[sagehen]

on 4/18/08 4:27 PM, Jonathan Lighter at wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM wrote:

> Yup. Sidney Greenstreet and the Shriners.  Was that a band too?  Or were they
> just in _Casablanca_ together?
>
> Clearly I'm slipping.
>
> JL
>
> Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Mark Mandel
> Subject: Re: Origin of "hoopie"
>
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>
> On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 1:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> wrote:
>
>> The band took its name from the 1966 novel by Willard Manus.
>>
>> Maj. Hoople was the only person I ever saw who wore a fez. Except for
>> Laurel & Hardy in "Sons of the Desert." And Akbar & Jeff.
>>
>> JL
>>
>
> And Sidney Greenstreet. And a parade of Shriners, either live or in the
> comics.
>
> Mark Mandel
>
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I think Major Hoople's fez  is just meant to be another marker of his being
out of date even in his dated environs.  To judge from book illustrations
from the late XIX Cent in both US & Britain, the fez frequently accompanied
the smoking jacket, or the dressing gown: the gentleman's leisure wear.
Spoils of Empire or an allusion to that.
AM

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