hoot

hoot pronunciation

/HOOT/

Meaning

Most often, something (or somebody) that cracks you up. "He's a hoot" means the guy is funny as all get-out. Out on the farm or in the woods, a hoot is also the owl's call, the sound that makes you glance at the treeline after dark. Separate line: "don't give a hoot" means you do not care one bit.

How folks use it

• “Uncle Ray telling that coon-hunt story was a real hoot.”
• “We set on the porch and listened to a hoot way back in the hollers.”

Origin and etymology

From an old word for a shout or cry, long tied to owl sounds. "A hoot" as something funny shows up in American slang by the mid-1900s. "Don't give a hoot" for not caring is older (late 1800s), maybe linked to "hooter" as a tiny bit, sometimes explained as a mangled "iota." Rural Southern talk keeps both the laugh sense and the owl sense close at hand.

Frequently asked questions