When I was a teenager and reading on the Civil War, I learned that the word “hooker” came from Union General Joseph Hooker. (Then I looked up what a hooker was.) Tee hee! Well, it turns out that etymology was false. Historian Norman Eliason found it in print as early as 1845. In 1856, John Bartlett included the word in “Dictionary of Americanisms”. It was defined as “a strumpet, a sailor’s trull”. One theory is the word came from Corlear’s Hook, N.Y. The area was full of criminals and sex workers. But the word could be traced back to 16th Century England where it was originally a reference to petty thieves who used polls with hooks on them to steal goods. It may then have been transferred to prostitutes who hooked, or lured, their clients. Then along came Joseph Hooker, who became famous as “Fighting Joe” Hooker and was the commander of the Army of the Potomac until badly defeated at Chancellorsville. Someone decided that because Hooker’s men made great use of the red-light district when he was a division commander, prostitutes became known as “hookers”. Famed Civil War historian Bruce Catton perpetuated the myth by writing about the red -light district in Washington being known as “Hooker’s Division”. He knew a great anecdote when he saw it, but sometimes great anecdotes turn out to be apocryphal. Just ask me. I spent years telling my students that hookers got their name from Joseph Hooker. And then Google came along. And out went the anecdote.
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