"To hock up" is the verb I have always heard. I assume it is
onomatopoeic. The noun is a new one on me.
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> Is Pittsburgh the only region to use that slang term "hawker" or "hocker,"
> meaning phlegm? I've never heard anyone anywhere else say this. Any
> feedback, slang fans?
It's not slang at all, it's a Real Word. Chambers: 'Hawk v.t. to force
up from the throat - v.i. to clear the throat noisily'.
Geoff Butler
>"To hock up" is the verb I have always heard. I assume it is onomatopoeic.
>The noun is a new one on me.
I can't believe that I'm going to follow-up to this*.
Where I grew up, the verb in question was *clearly* "hawk"--and just as likely
onomatopoeic.
{* Puts me entirely in mind of a George Carlin comment, from the _Toledo Window
Box_ album: If you're ever in a conversation, and find yourself talking about
snot: Back up! You've missed [another topic for conversation]!)
--
Rich Alderson You know the sort of thing that you can find in any dictionary
of a strange language, and which so excites the amateur philo-
logists, itching to derive one tongue from another that they
know better: a word that is nearly the same in form and meaning
as the corresponding word in English, or Latin, or Hebrew, or
what not.
--J. R. R. Tolkien,
alde...@netcom.com _The Notion Club Papers_
Certainly in the running fraternity (in the UK).
Makes me laugh when I see one of the old notices on a house:
No hawkers
No circulars
Roy
> Is Pittsburgh the only region to use that slang term "hawker" or "hocker,"
> meaning phlegm? I've never heard anyone anywhere else say this. Any
> feedback, slang fans?
As others must have pointed out, 'hawk', meaning "to raise up phlegm
from the throat", appears in any dictionary worth its salt. In
_Huckleberry Finn_, Mark Twain has fun with the word; when Huck is
describing the luxuries of royal life, he rhapsodizes how you get to
go out, hunting, hawking, and sp... (at which point Jim cuts off his
speech).
John Bailin | "Anyone who isn't confused here doesn't
email: jba...@cnct.com | really understand what is going on."
> Is Pittsburgh the only region to use that slang term "hawker" or "hocker,"
It was fairly common in grade school in central Indiana, but I haven't
heard it much recently.
--
John Seal _|_
john...@indy.net (Finger for PGP key) |
se...@tlinks.nawc-ad-indy.navy.mil | Caveat Temptor
When I was in high school, in the 1950's, I heard both "hock" and "hawk"
used as verbs. The object was usually called a "lunger".
D.M.
> Date: 22 APR 1996 04:45:31 GMT
> From: Johnny Hartner <za...@telerama.lm.com>
> Newgroups: alt.usage.english
> Subject: hawker or hocker?
>
> Is Pittsburgh the only region to use that slang term "hawker" or "hocker,"
> meaning phlegm? I've never heard anyone anywhere else say this. Any
> feedback, slang fans?
>
>
In New York, we also use the phrase--at least, in Westchester we do.
Actually, my mother and I split on this issue. I say to "hock a loogie
(phlegm), and she claims it's "hawk a loogie". Either way, this
expression is alive and well in New York.
--Binky
(snip)
>
>Makes me laugh when I see one of the old notices on a house:
>
>No hawkers
>No circulars
>
>Roy
Wash your mouth out Roy.
In the true tradtion of Mrs Bucket in that pommy TV show (who
pronounced her name Bouqet) our family has always claimed our
name comes from the occupation of hawker, the person who looked
after the kings hawks. (The Falconers looked after the falcons).
When I meet a family called Circular I must ask whether they
also feel persecuted when seeing signs prohibiting them from
being somewhere.
Incidentally, the number plate on my car spells HAWKER. I must
park it under one of those "No Hawkers" signs and get a pic
one day.
ron hawker
--
Mike Elliott tel: 619 431 5050 x 106
Counterpoint Electronics fax: 619 431 5986
2281 Las Palmas Drive email: mi...@attmail.com
Carlsbad, CA 92009 http://www.counter-point.com/~cpoint
lunger?
Was that a hard 'g' or a soft 'g'?
Does it rhyme with 'plunger' or 'cowabunga'?
I'm just trying to reconstruct in my mind the full graphic effect of the
utterance
--
Patrick Gillard
>When I was in high school, in the 1950's, I heard both "hock" and "hawk"
>used as verbs. The object was usually called a "lunger".
In the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960's, it was a 'loogy'. The verb
'hock'/'hawk' was rarely used and the noun 'hocker'/'hawker' never; the
pronunciation would have been nearly indistinguishable anyway.
Max Crittenden It's a good thing that icebergs don't come out
STRIKE SLIP, Merit 25 at night, because you sure can't see them.
Menlo Park, Calif. ‹ Chris Dickson