Comment on I never realized this

• ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Sorry, but unfortunately I got interested and followed your link:

  There is a popular legend that “hooker” as a slang term for a prostitute is derived from his last name[26] because of parties and a lack of military discipline at his headquarters near the Murder Bay district of Washington, DC. Some versions of the legend claim that the band of prostitutes that followed his division was derisively referred to as “General Hooker’s Army” or “Hooker’s Brigade”.[27] However, the term “hooker” was used in print as early as 1845, years before Hooker was a public figure,[28] and is likely derived from the concentration of prostitutes around the shipyards and ferry terminal of the Corlear’s Hook area of Manhattan in the early to middle 19th century, who came to be referred to as “hookers”.

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  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    lack of military discipline at his headquarters near the Murder Bay district

    To be fair, he could probably have chosen a better place to set up…

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