Monday, September 19, 2011

General entrance

last week we saw that the state house in boston has a general hooker entrance... at least they arent hiding it!!
or is it the entrance for the long dead joseph hooker?  a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War... as wikipedia just told me.. but wikipedia tells me more: "Hooker's reputation as a hard-drinking ladies' man was established through rumors in the pre-Civil War Army and has been cited by a number of popular histories. There is a popular legend that "hooker" as a slang term for a prostitute is derived from his last name because of parties and a lack of military discipline at his headquarters. Some versions of the legend claim that the band of prostitutes that followed his division were derisively referred to as "General Hooker's Army" or "Hooker's Brigade." However, the term "hooker" was used in print as early as 1845, years before Hooker was a public figure, and is likely derived from the concentration of prostitutes around the shipyards and ferry terminal of the Corlear's Hook area of Manhattan in the early to middle 19th century, who came to be referred to as "hookers". The prevalence of the Hooker legend may have been at least partly responsible for the popularity of the term." well, thats interesting!
ah, and, here i found that the actual entrance has a huge sign, and that sign cost almost 15,000 dollars!

2 comments:

Tim said...

ahahaha so funny! every Hooker has a general entrance (meaning everybody can enter) :D

i just thought the term hooker was coined after the fishing hook: a prostitute 'hooks' the client..

biebkriebels said...

Hahaha it is a confusing story, but at first sight it made me laugh. But to have this name as family name is very sad I think and to be a General is more sad....