Wicked Good Guides / Wicked Good Guide to Boston English /

Hoodsie

1. A small cup of ice cream, the kind that comes with a flat wooden spoon (from H.P. Hood, the dairy that sells them). KC Black reports: "Part of their charm was on finishing them you'd suck and then fold the wooden spoon risking splintahs from the folded wood." To which Dee Burton adds: "The lid had a brown-tone picture of a movie star covered by a thin layer of protector paper that you peeled off. Sure wish I'd kept those covers. Police used to give us free Hoodsies and free movies on the morning of July 4, in the days when fireworks were legal in Mass. (that's how far back I go!).''

2. Certain teen-aged girls, who, like the ice cream, are "short and sweet and good to eat." Jo Ann Kendricken recounts: "Growing up in Roslindale (scooping went on here and in W. Roxbury as well as Hyde Park), I was a hoodsie, and now when I tell people that, they automatically call me a 'Rozzie chick/rat' and say, 'So, you are a tough girl, aren't you? Better not mess with you!' For the record, I have never been in a fight, but it's nice to know that no one will mess witcha!'

Comments

I have a question my family and I were wandering why there isn't enough rootbeer popcicles.They are very good.

amy brodeur on November 22, 2003 07:17 PM.

WHERE CAN I BUY HOODSIES,???? I LIVE ON THE SOUTH SHORE

MEL O on January 18, 2004 10:33 PM.

You can buy them in the freezer at the grocery store with the rest of the icecream.

Rachel on January 26, 2004 01:45 PM.

Where can I get Hoodsies in New York?!? I miss them so much!

Kate on February 13, 2004 12:28 AM.

Who is your supplier for wooden spoons?

Tom Carney on June 4, 2004 11:35 AM.

We used to buy them at the lunch counter in grade school for 15 cents. I friggin loved those things.

As for rootbeer popsicles, you can get them in packs, but you have to get the blue raspberry and banana flavored that come with them. Blech.

Lindsay on June 19, 2004 01:07 AM.

where can a find the hoodsie's with pictures of stars, cowboys, etc. thanks, the charles

the charles on August 22, 2004 07:26 PM.

How could you forget this use of "hoodsie"?

A (sort of) reward, only used in a sarcastic manner in conjunction with "whaddaya want" in order to express the thought, "what the fuck do i care?"

For example:

Tommy: "Hey Joey, I was just ova that wicked retahded kid Mickey's place in summahville"

Joey: "so, whaddaya want? A hoodsie?"

Marc on March 24, 2005 11:19 AM.

South of Boston a hoodsie were all young teenage girls, like about 13-15, and hoodsie was not a nice thing to be called. It was used the same as "an immature twerp".

lynne on April 9, 2005 10:55 PM.

Here are a couple of takes on "hoodsie":

I grew up in the Faneuil Project in Brighton. (Most people say "projects" but we always used the singular.) Across from the project is a playground officially known as McKinney Field but referred to universally as "Faneuil Pahk." "Ovah the pahk," as we'd say, every Fourth of July, the City of Boston would provide free Hoodsies to any kids who asked. Hundreds of kids would line up. The playground workers, teenagers, usually, who copped an easy summer job from some local politician, were pretty diligent about making sure that each kid got only one. Some kids, bolder than I, would always make a stab at getting a second or a third by getting back in the line but usually got caught, somehow. It was a great game.

Back across the street, the project management would run dances, "reckid hops", in the project's recreation hall. Because no older teens would be caught dead at one of these affairs crowded with 11-to-13-year-olds, they were derisively known by all as "Hoodsie hops", a reference to the young kids, not the ice cream cups.

Brightonjohn on May 6, 2005 08:30 AM.

I had been looking at a site on "Regionalisms" that referred to this site. It was a riot; but I couldn't post anything more.
I wanted to chime in on "bubbler" /drinking fountain. In Rhode Island, people are fond of dropping the final "r" in words, so when you're a kid, and it's a hot day, you ask the teacher if you can go to the "bubbla."
I've also heard people in Minnesota talking about someone "driving truck."
Don't they mean driving "A" truck?
Jeez, talk about ignorant.

everett on May 8, 2005 04:02 AM.

Both meanings are still in use today I think. I'm from Westie and I still call all the high school tarts running around hoodsies.

Mark on March 17, 2006 01:59 AM.

IN TODAYS BOSTON GLOBE, IT STATESTHAT HOODSIES WERE INTRODUCED IN 1947?????? I TOTALLY DISAGREE, AS I WAS EATING HOODSIE CUPS WHEN I WAS 12 years old, & I AM NOW 77 YEARS OLD, SO "SOMEBODY" DIDN'T DO THEIR "HOMEWORK"

NICK GIASULLO on April 8, 2006 09:25 AM.

Hoodsies were such a treat, my grammy musta laid 'em in by the case for big family pahties.

I gotta problem--what flavors did they have in the 60's? I can't remembah if they were all plain or all came haf'n'haf?

Help

Smitty from Prouty

smitty on May 11, 2006 01:19 PM.

I grew up in Seattle and we called them Dixie Cups. I have no idea why, as dixie cups are those little disposable cups.

diana on November 4, 2007 12:15 PM.

Scoopin Chicks was a pastime in Rozzi. Young girls would walk Center Street in West Roxbury and we'd drive by and chat with them, nothing obscene, but casual talk. Sometimes they got in and sometimes they didn't. Never to Scoop in our own neighborhood. Once someone scooped, the flood gates were opened and The "Scoopee" usually had friends for the "Scooper's" friends and there was a blistful long term relationship (about 4 weeks) for the two tribes. Harmless summer fun.

G Squill on May 16, 2008 07:52 PM.

In the 70's in Medfid, a hoodsie was a cute girl that was too young. This from the perspective of a 16-year-old boy, that is. So, a cute 13 or 14 year old girl that was trying to get your attention was a hoodsie.

So it was a good term -- they were cute -- but you didn't scoop them. Everyone knew who the guys that did were.

Medford Mickey on May 27, 2008 10:04 AM.

You can get hoodsies anywhere, I think, just not called hoodsies and people look at you funny when you call them that. I went to uni in VA and I found some once, and that's the mountains. They can be hard to find in the freezer section because the packaging's different, but they've gotta have them in NY somewhere.

This is fun for me to read b/c my parents are from Rochester and Cleveland, so all the fun slang I know is from friends, neighbors, etc. Used to have a really thick accent but it's faded some. I still like to throw out words my college friends don't know, though. "Tonic? Huh?"

~Nzie

Nzie on July 5, 2008 11:49 AM.

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