''Hoser'' or ''hose-head'' is a slang term originating in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

that is used to reference or imitate

Canadians Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

. The term "hoser", long used by certain groups of Canadians, is a comedic label given to someone that gained popularity and notoriety from the comedic skits by

Rick Moranis Frederick Allan Moranis (; born April 18, 1953) is a Canadian actor, comedian, musician, songwriter, writer and producer. He appeared in the sketch comedy series ''Second City Television'' (''SCTV'') in the 1980s and several Hollywood films, inc ...

and Dave Thomas (playing the characters of

Bob and Doug McKenzie Bob and Doug McKenzie are a pair of fictional Canadian brothers who hosted "Great White North", a sketch which was introduced on '' SCTV'' for the show's third season when it moved to CBC Television in 1980. Bob is played by Rick Moranis and ...

) in ''SCTV'''s " The Great White North" segments. The characters also used the verb 'to hose' as a synonym for 'to swindle'.

Origins

The origin of the term is unclear. The ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'' records the first use in writing as being a 1981 ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'' article about the McKenzie brothers, and there is no clear evidence that the term was in use before then. Nonetheless, the term has spawned several popular

false etymologies A false etymology (fake etymology, popular etymology, etymythology, pseudo-etymology, or par(a)etymology) is a popular but false belief about the origin or derivation of a specific word. It is sometimes called a folk etymology, but this is also a ...

. A popular origin story holds that in outdoor

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

before

ice resurfacer An ice resurfacer is a vehicle or hand-pushed device used to clean and smooth the surface of a sheet of ice, usually in an ice rink. The first ice resurfacer was developed by American inventor and engineer Frank Zamboni in 1949 in the city of ...

s, the losing team in a hockey game would have to hose down the rink after a game to make the ice smooth again. Thus the term ''hoser'' was synonymous with ''loser''. Another suggestion for the origin of the term involves

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

s of the

Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These pro ...

who would

siphon A siphon (from grc, σίφων, síphōn, "pipe, tube", also spelled nonetymologically syphon) is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in a ...

gasoline from farming vehicles with a hose during the Great Depression of the 1930s. "Hosed" is also a euphemism for

drunkenness Alcohol intoxication, also known as alcohol poisoning, commonly described as drunkenness or inebriation, is the negative behavior and physical effects caused by a recent consumption of alcohol. In addition to the toxicity of ethanol, the main p ...

in Canadian English, and by extension a hoser is one who is drunk. Another possible origin may stem from loggers' slang, where "hoosier" referred contemptuously to an untrained, inept, or slack worker.Elrick B Davis, "Paul Bunyan Talk," American Speech, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Dec., 1942), p. 222. The term ''hoser'' was used frequently on the U.S. sitcom ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and ...

'' in relation to main character

Robin Scherbatsky Robin Charles Scherbatsky Jr. is a fictional character created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series ''How I Met Your Mother'', portrayed by Cobie Smulders. Robin is the on and off love interest of Barney Stinson (N ...

, who was a native of Canada. She sometimes visited a Canadian-themed bar, Hoser Hut.

References

{{Bob & Doug McKenzie Bob and Doug McKenzie Canadian slang Stereotypes of white people Pejorative terms for white people

Origins

See also

References