hooey

English

WOTD – 27 December 2012

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhuː.i/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːi

Etymology 1

Possibly related to phooey, possibly a euphemism for horseshit, or possibly from Ukrainian or Russian хуй (xuj). Compare hooie (interjection) and German hui.

Alternative forms

• hooie

Noun

hooey (uncountable)

1. (slang) Silly talk or writing; nonsense, silliness, or fake assertion(s).

   I heard his speech. It sounded like a whole lot of hooey to me.

   • 2006, Ronald H. Hoffman (with Sidney Stevens), How to Talk with Your Doctor: The Guide for Patients and Their Physicians Who Want to Reconcile and Use the Best of Conventional and Alternative Medicine‎^[1], ReadHowYouWant.com, pages 216–217:

     For many doctors, meditation resides in the realm of New Age hooey—okay for Indian yogis and students of Eastern religion, but not suitable for scientific study.

   • 2011 October 13, Chuck Lorre, Eric Kaplan, Maria Ferrari, “The Russian Rocket Reaction (5-5)” (00:16:47–00:17:00 from the start), in The Big Bang Theory:

     Sheldon Cooper: I did, but I think I've kind of outgrown Star Trek. You know, stock characters, ludicrous plots, beam me up. What a load of hooey.

   • 2023 July 21, Nintendo EPD, Pikmin 4, Nintendo, level/area: Rescue Command Post:

     Dingo: Haha! Sounds like you're scared of ghosts. You know there's no such thing, right?! / Yonny: Well, actually, science has yet to DISprove the existence of ghosts. / Dingo: What? Yon, you're into all this ghost hooey? Really?!

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:nonsense

Translations

silly talk or writing

• Dutch: flauwe kul, nonsens (nl)
• Finnish: pöty (fi), hölynpöly (fi), roska (fi)
• French: connerie (fr) f, bêtise (fr) f
• German: Stuss (de) m, Schmarrn (de) m, Blödsinn (de) m
• Russian: ерунда́ (ru) (jerundá), чушь (ru) (čušʹ)
• Swedish: skitsnack (sv), skitprat (sv), smörja (sv) c, nonsens (sv) n, trams (sv) n

Etymology 2

Noun

hooey (plural hooeys)

1. (slang) A hog-tie performed in a rodeo show.