Origin of "hoopie"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I read the book so long ago (1970?) that all I can recall is that the hero was named Mott and that he was a lunkhead.  It obviously didn't grab me, but it did contribute a few cites to HDAS.

  This site refreshes my memory only slightly:

  http://www.hunter-mott.com/books/mott_the_hoople.html


  JL



Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: Origin of "hoopie"
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Don't leave me hanging, Jon! Who / what was "Mott The Hoople" and
how'd he / it get that name?

WRT fez-wearing, you are correct, sir!

-Wilson

On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 1:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter
wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: Origin of "hoopie"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
> Wilson Gray wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: Origin of "hoopie"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> There was Major Hoople, a chracter in the cartoon, Our Boarding House.
> More recently, there was the band, Mott The Hoople.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 11:09 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> > Subject: Re: Origin of "hoopie"
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > FWIW, Lee Pederson in _American Speech_ 1980 reported "hoople" [sic] as a synonym for "hayseed...hick..hillbilly...yokel [etc.]." Evidently a typo, though "hoople" has seen some use in the sense of "lunkhead."
> >
> > "Hoopie" is in DARE. T.H. White thought in 1965 it referred to all West Virginians, and a recent ref. at Google Books specifies that "hoopies" are from "the southern part" of WV.
> >
> >
> >
> > JL
> >
> > Patti Kurtz wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Patti Kurtz
> > Subject: Origin of "hoopie"
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Hi everyone. A student in my composition class asked me "what's the origin
> > of the term "hoopie" (slang for someone from WV?" I didn't know (but I
> > recall using this politically incorrect term as a college student in SW PA),
> > so I got curious and thought I'd ask here. I did a little googling and
> > found a suggestion that it comes from "hooper" (one who fits hoops around
> > barrels) because of the fact that people from the hills would come into
> > town to buy hoops for their barrels (presumably for moonshine, maybe?) is
> > this accurate? I checked my "shorter" OED (sorry, it's all I have
> > available) and found no entry on "hoopie."
> >
> > This is for my curiosity, not for the student's research or anything-- it
> > was just a discussion question he raised and it rang a bell with me because
> > of my experience with the term.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Patti Kurtz
> > Minot State University
> >
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>
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Sam'l Clemens
>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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