Origins

Miss Hoopty and Delilah Part Ways

by Dalya Goldberger

Clutching their copies of Let’s Go San Francisco, Miss Hoopty and Delilah spend their last day in the hilly city sightseeing at Fisherman’s Wharf.

“That’s it. I don’t think I can eat another piece of fish if I tried,” groaned Delilah, clutching her bloated belly. “We’ve hit every seafood restaurant the city has to offer.”

Miss Hoopty agreed with a rub of her own belly before resuming her barking dialogue with the sea lions.

A moment later, a piece of paper, carried on the breeze from the Bay, smacked Delilah in the face. She peeled it off and read the amateurish flyer.

Anti-Starbusters Rally
Take Action for the Fair Trade Campaign!

Miss Hoopty went ballistic and grabbed it from her.

“THAT’S TODAY! WE HAVE TO GO!” she insisted and darted off to get directions.

Half an hour later, they approached a gathering outside a local coffee shop.

“Do we really have to spend our last day here hanging out with a bunch of granolas?” complained Delilah just as a man with a bullhorn began to address the crowd.

“STARBUSTERS IS FORCING MANY TO LIVE A HAND-TO-MOUTH EXISTENCE…THIRD WORLD LABOUR…GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOOD…FIGHT THE MAN…!”

Miss Hoopty raised her fist in solidarity and shouted “YEAH!”

“Wanna like, take a flyer?” asked a young woman sporting a tattoo of the coffee shop’s logo with a line drawn through it.

Delilah scowled.

“IGNORE HER, SHE’S NOT A HAPPY CAMPER,” apologized Miss Hoopty as she pocketed a handful of flyers.

Then, pointing to the guy with the bullhorn, Miss Hoopty asked, “WHO IS HE?”

“That void coupon?!” gasped an incredulous Delilah breaking her silence.

“Oh, that’s Garrett,” answered the tattooed woman. “He’s like mondo cool; I used to be a barista at this location before I met him.”

The woman resumed her circuit through the crowd and Miss Hoopty turned excitedly to Delilah.

“I THINK I’VE FOUND MY CALLING,” she announced eyeing Garrett. “I’M GOING TO HELP ORGANIZE THESE DEMONSTRATIONS AND TRAVEL THE WORLD.”

“Whatever,” sighed Delilah. “I’m going home.”

Three months later, back in Canada, Delilah responds to an e-mail message from Miss Hoopty.

Dear Miss Hoopty,

I’m glad you’re finding your Birkenstock-wearing, naturopathic, activist lifestyle fulfilling. See you soon.

Delilah

P.S. Don’t forget to shave.

A popular term in the 1980s, go ballistic means to go out of control with anger. Ballistics is the study of projectiles. In the 1980s, the expression was first used to describe out of control ballistic missiles; later it was extended to refer to people.

Granola is a snack food made of rolled oats and nuts mixed with honey that are dried until crispy. A fairly recent invention, granola was first introduced to the public at the original Woodstock Music and Art Festival. A granola is a person who believes in a natural, healthy lifestyle. Used most in the 1980s, this term is a throwback to the 1960s.

A hand-to-mouth existence means to live a life of poverty. The expression arose in 16th century England when famines caused thousands of people to starve to death. The hunger of these people was so great that they had no choice but to stuff their mouths with food as soon as it reached their hands.

A hedge word and a substitute for say, like is an excruciatingly overused American Valley Girl expression that gained popularity in the 1980s and that persists to this day among teenagers.

Almost always used in the negative sense (i.e., not a happy camper), a happy camper is someone who is pleased or content with a situation. Happy camper is another Valley Girl term that was first used in the 1980s and that enjoys continued use today.

An hilarious term from the 1940s, void coupon refers to an unattractive guy.

Mondo is 1990’s slang for extremely. Add it to the key expression of the 1950’s beat generation, cool (which could mean restrained, relaxed, laid-back, detached, cerebral, stylish, excellent, or other affirmative things) to come up with a real superlative. Cool moved into teen slang in the 1960s where it has largely stayed.

A barista is a person who has been trained in and excels at the art of espresso making. Today, the term is used to describe most “sales associates” at designer coffee shops.

Whatever is a synonym for “Yeah, okay. I don’t care enough about it to argue with you.” First used in the 1980s, the expression became popular in the 1990s.

Dalya Goldberger is the Managing Editor of Writer’s Block. Listen for her from time to time on Paul Castle’s “That’s a Good Question” segment on CBC radio in Saint John, New Brunswick, and CBC’s "Daybreak" in Prince George, British Columbia.

Sources:
Dewdroppers, Waldos, and Slackers: A Decade-by-Decade Guide to the Vanishing Vocabulary of the Twentieth Century by Rosemarie Ostler
Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins: Revised and Expanded Edition by Robert Hendrickson
The Free Dictionary
World Wide Words