Entertainment desk
< February 27	<< Jan \| February \| Mar >>	Current desk >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

February 28

Hooker

What the police series was called Hooker? Out of millions of names, they chose that one. Why? Did some people complained about it? 2402:9D80:21A:99A9:EB94:D18C:8192:4A42 (talk) 04:10, 28 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I'm guessing you mean T. J. Hooker, a TV show named after the lead character, whose surname was Hooker. Hooker is a quite common surname. Wikipedia has an article called Hooker (surname) which lists 47 people with that surname who have an article here. There are probably many more. They include Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647), a prominent Puritan colonial leader, who founded the Colony of Connecticut. The article on the TV show doesn't mention any controversy about the name. HiLo48 (talk) 04:51, 28 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Suggest reading the Legacy section of (General) Joseph Hooker regarding the purported association of the surname with the "oldest profession". 2606:A000:1126:28D:8C52:8F68:C701:7CD2 (talk) 08:04, 28 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

EO says that the term for prostitute predates the Civil War,[1] and that the surname Hooker, derived from a profession of making hooks, is more than a thousand years old. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:52, 28 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

That's why I added "purported". 2606:A000:1126:28D:8C52:8F68:C701:7CD2 (talk) 10:05, 29 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. It's like a folk tale. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:47, 29 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The mundane nature of the name can be seen in the baseball rule book section on batting out of order, which uses this hypothetical lineup: Abel, Baker, Charles, Daniel, Edward, Frank, George, Hooker, Irwin. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:59, 28 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The show is from 1982, the character Hooker is fictional, "hooker" was a well-known term for a prostitute at the time, and List of T. J. Hooker episodes mentions several episodes with prostitutes. Surely the people who named him and the show would know that many viewers would think of a prostitute. They must either have not cared enough to choose another name, or wanted the association, e.g. to make the name more memorable. https://web.archive.org/web/20070709213820/http://www.tj-hooker.com/faq.html#whatdoestjstandfor quotes the creator Rick Husky for: "Hooker's last name was inspired by an American Civil War general, General Joe Hooker. Why? No reason, other than I liked the name." PrimeHunter (talk) 02:43, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Likewise in this source.[2] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:37, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Robert Redford's character in The Sting was Johnny Hooker. It's not an unusual name. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:38, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

From Frank Sinatra:

In July [1974], while on a second tour of Australia,[284] he caused an uproar by describing journalists there – who were aggressively pursuing his every move and pushing for a press conference – as "bums, parasites, fags, and buck-and-a-half hookers".[285] After he was pressured to apologize, Sinatra instead insisted that the journalists apologize for "fifteen years of abuse I have taken from the world press". Union actions cancelled concerts and grounded Sinatra's plane, essentially trapping him in Australia.[286] In the end, Sinatra's lawyer, Mickey Rudin, arranged for Sinatra to issue a written conciliatory note and a final concert that was televised to the nation.[287].

At that time in Australia, the term "hooker" meant a certain role on a football team, and was not widely used or understood to refer to sex workers. (It does now; such is Frank's legacy to us.) After he got back home, he'd crack a joke about his tour down under by saying "I made a bad mistake on my trip to Australia - I got off the plane". -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:07, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]
- I suspect that many public figures would side with Frank. Diana, and Harry and Meghan, certainly could relate. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:48, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  - Hooker is one of those terms which, with no context, is kind of ambiguous. Some of its synonyms are less so. Shatner playing T.J. Hooker is acceptable. If he was T.J. Prostitute, not so much. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:55, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

A lot of Australians remember a cute little girl in TV ads for the real estate firm LJ Hooker saying "Thank you Mr Hooker" HiLo48 (talk) 22:55, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Not just Australians. Although I only saw the ad after NZ has legalised prostitution and always had fun thoughts of conning some wacky extreme American Christian commentator by using it as an example of how the PC liberal atheists are destroying good old Christian values. Like this case of an NZ TV has ad for prostitution, thanks to their ungodly government legalising, where the daughter is apparently thanking her father's pimp, presumably for the pimp's services which keep the father satisfied, and marriage sort-of intact. (Given the happy family.)

BTW, the interesting point about Leslie Joseph Hooker is that Hooker isn't his original family name. He adopted it due to concerns of racism from his Chinese Tingyou. And despite the prominence of Hookers in other context even to this day, I'm unconvinced that someone in much of the English speaking world is as likely to adopt such a surname even if we put aside that there's generally less of a need to change.

Which highlights my main point, I had a look and didn't find anything, even missing what PrimeHunter found. But I'd be surprised if whoever came up with and approved the name didn't at least think about the other usage. I'm not saying it was part of the reason for the name, they may have simply thought of the connotation and decided it didn't matter. But since we're talking about a fictional work with multiple people involved, it's not like it's case of something which just happened to be.

P.S. As an interesting aside, anyone know if hooker in the sex work sense was ever mentioned in the show?

Nil Einne (talk) 10:00, 3 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Mixed martial artist Dan Hooker was recently inspired to beat some etymological sense into disgraced troll account Paul Felder for a wisecrack like that. And not in one punch, like an '80s TV detective, but for a whole primetime block. Google his post-truth face, if you dare. InedibleHulk (talk) 04:34, 6 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]