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In R. Carver's short story "Tell the women we're going", two young husbands, Jerry and Bill, leave a boring Sunday afternoon family meeting for "a little run" ("Guy's got to get out", as Jerry puts it.)
After shooting a few balls and drinking a few beers, the guys get back to their car, and the story continues thus:
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Back on the highway, Jerry opened it up - little jumps of eighty-five and ninety. They'd just passed an old pickup loaded with furniture when they saw the two girls [on their bicycles].
"Look at that!" Jerry said, slowing. "I could use some of that."
Jerry drove another mile or so and then pulled off the road. "Let's go back," Jerry said, "Let's try it."
"Jesus," Bill said. "I don't know."
"I could use some," Jerry said.
Bill said, "Yeah, but I don't know."
"For Christ's sake," Jerry said.
Bill glanced at his watch and then looked all around. He said, "You do the talking. I'm rusty."
Jerry hooted as he whipped the car around.
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Now here's my question for you native speakers of American English:When Jerry hoots, what does he do:
a) he sounds the horn of his car
b) he laughs loudly
c) he does something else (please specify) ?
If you think both a) and b) could be possible, what was your first thought?
Thanks for any comments
Godot
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c) a shout of glee; not to be confused with an outcry of derision, as are some hoots.
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Carpal Tunnel
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As tsuwm said, a shout of eager anticipation of sexual adventure.
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Carpal Tunnel
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C-- Yowee! or some such word that is used as an expresses of joy or excitement...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Hooting could be laughingly. But what we used to call a hoot when I was a kid was when you sort of pursed your lips and half-howled like a wolf...sounded something like "haoooooooooo!" I remember back in 7th grade a bunch of us got "excluded" (suspended for 3 days from school) for "hooting" in the cafeteria...they claimed we were creating a disturbance and inciting to riot..."hooting" was written on the blue slips (disciplinary complaints), too. I remember being interrogated alone by good ol' Mr. Frieda, "So who else was hooting in the cafeteria with you? Names! I want names, do you hear me!?"  You should of seen that mob of angry parents 'bout near to take the vice-principal's head off for throwing their kids out of school, and marring their records over something so stupid...it was fun to watch the VP slowly slipping beneath his desk in reaction to the barrage! All the disciplinary actions, including the exclusions, were reversed, and the blue slips removed from the files.  But "hooting" in the cafeteria to get the goat of the lunchroom supervisor sure was a lot of fun!
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Carpal Tunnel
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HOOO-ah [see Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman]
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old hand
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Mr. Frieda? What an unfortunate name with which to pursue a career in middle school administration...
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veteran
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Interesting, cos from a Brit perspective I'd say "whooped" if I meant (c) - as in yeeeeeeeeeeeehah. To the extent the whoop became more of an aaaooooowwwwl I'd say "howled". Hooting is what owls do over here.  I'd probably get the USn meaning of "hooted" in context, mainly because if the writer meant (a) honked the horn[repeatedly, with a bit of rhythm and fun, to be more specific] I'd expect the word used to be "tooted". Or "honked" itself, of course, though left at that our hero would be a goose. So on what side of the Pond did the phrase "It'll be a hoot" originate?
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veteran
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HOOO-ah
==/== cross-pondial equivalent to
Phwooaarrr ?
(Good film & good ref)
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Pooh-Bah
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My two cents... to me it sounds like the guy is expressing joy and abandon by exclaiming something like "HOOO-EE!"
The New Yorker ran a funny cartoon once about the "SKEEEW-WEEEEE!" girls and the "OWW!" guys out for a night.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'd defiitely read it as a hollering out--a sound like whoopee. I think if it had been the car horn, Carver would have used honked or tooted instead here.
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Mr. Frieda? What an unfortunate name with which to pursue a career in middle school administration...Yeah, we used to call him "Frieda Face"! 
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To confuse the issue even further
Then of course, there's the hoot as in owl, the sound an owl makes, hoot-owl. Truth be told, the mishievious hooting we did during that school incident was more like an owl's hoot than a wolf howl. Sometimes you see the owl sound spelled whoot.
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In reply to:
... but never wloot.
Except in the 12th century. I'm sure tsuwm has the reference. It may have been spelled wluwt.
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a hollering out--a sound like whoopee
So what sound would you make when you whooped, WW?
As I said above, that would be the verb I (and maybe most Brits) would use in this context.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Here's the line again: In reply to:
Jerry hooted as he whipped the car around.
OK. I hear that, Fish, as a hoot--or a whoopee, as I wrote--but as you pointed out, I've never heard whoopee used as a verb--only as an interjection. So, if I were bound and determined to use whoopee in this context, I'd really have to change the rhythm of the sentence and write:
Jerry shouted, "Whoopee!" as he whipped the car around......but I don't like that nearly as well as the original Jerry hooted as he whipped the car around. I was just making the point that when one hoots, one makes a sound, I would imagine, similar to Whoopee. Now that I think about it more deeply--glad I'm spending my morning this way, by the way--I don't think Whoopee is good at all. I like the hoot.
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when one hoots, one makes a sound ... similar to Whoopee
Whoo. Whoopee without the pee. Probably repeated. Whoo, whoo, whoo!
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Carpal Tunnel
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hoot, whoot, howlHmmm...but since there's an owl in h owl, I guess there's something of a hoot there as well! So there you are!
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
hoot, whoot, howl
Hmmm...but since there's an owl in howl, I guess there's something of a hoot there as well! So there you are!
hoot, owl, howl, whoot...put 'em all together, drop the "h", and you get, AnnaS, wloot
Bird regards,
WordWloot
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addict
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OK. I hear that, Fish, as a hoot--or a whoopee, as I wrote--but as you pointed out, I've never heard whoopee used as a verb--only as an interjection. So, if I were bound and determined to use whoopee in this context, I'd really have to change the rhythm of the sentence and write:
Jerry shouted, "Whoopee!" as he whipped the car around......but I don't like that nearly as well as the original Jerry hooted as he whipped the car around. I was just making the point that when one hoots, one makes a sound, I would imagine, similar to Whoopee. Now that I think about it more deeply--glad I'm spending my morning this way, by the way--I don't think Whoopee is good at all. I like the hoot.
Jerry whooped as he whipped the car around
What's the problem?
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No problem with "whooped," but "whoopee" is a two-syllable, different kind of shout, and "whoopeed" as he rounded the corner sounded like an odd verb. But now that you've gone and "whooped," I suppose "whoopeed" would be ok, too, Dody.
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