View source for Hoodlum

{{Short description|Thug, usually in a group of misfits}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}{{Other uses}}
A '''hoodlum''' is a [[criminal|thug]], usually in a group of misfits who are associated with crime or theft.
== Early use ==
The earliest reference to the word "hoodlum" was in the December 14, 1866, ''San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin'' after the Hoodlum Band was arrested on December 13, 1866.<ref>[http://frederickbee.com/hoodlum.pdf "Hoodlum Band"]</ref> Members of the gang were sentenced to the Industrial School for stealing clothes. The gang used many keys to enter hotel rooms and boarding houses. On December 14, 1866, Lazarus Moses was arrested for selling clothes stolen by the Hoodlum Band. Moses was fined $300. Moses's nickname was [[Fagin]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Visitors from the East—Held for Trial—Lumber Healers— Case— Buying Stolen Goods— The Fair Case. — Sacramento Daily Union 18 April 1871 — California Digital Newspaper Collection|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18710418.2.20.1&srpos=1&dliv=none&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Fagin+Keyer%22------|access-date=2021-12-22|website=cdnc.ucr.edu}}</ref> The public read about the acts of the Hoodlum Band, and the word hoodlum became a synonym for a young thug.
The term was associated with [[Anti-Chinese violence in California|anti-Chinese violence]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Gandhi|first=Lakshmi|date=2013-11-06|title=Where Do 'Hoodlums' Come From? San Francisco|language=en|work=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/11/06/243262138/where-do-hoodlums-come-from-san-francisco|access-date=2021-12-22}}</ref> An article in [[The New York Times|''The New York Times'']] of July 26, 1877, stated: "People who sack Chinese houses and stone Chinamen are not workingmen. San Francisco calls them 'hoodlums,' a term which includes everything that is base and mean. The hoodlum is a non-producer, loafer and bully. The hoodlum class think this is a good time to signify their hatred of law and order."<ref>{{Cite web|first=Katie|last=Dowd|date=2017-07-23|title=140 years ago, San Francisco was set ablaze during the city's deadliest race riots|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/1877-san-francisco-anti-chinese-race-riots-11302710.php|access-date=2021-12-22|website=SFGate|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Etymology ==
While the term is endemic to San Francisco, the origins of "hoodlum" are unclear. Possible explanations include: [[Denis Kearney|Dennis Kearney's]] rally call to "huddle 'em up", organizing unemployed Irishmen prior to attacking and looting Chinese people and businesses;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Asbury|first=Herbert|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/215287786|title=The Barbary Coast : an informal history of the San Francisco underworld|publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press|year=1933|isbn=1-56025-408-4|oclc=215287786}}</ref> a derivation from the [[Swabian German|Swabian]] word ''hudelum'' ("disorderly") or the [[Bavarian language|Bavarian]] ''Haderlump'' ("ragamuffin");<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of Hoodlum|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hoodlum|access-date=2021-12-22|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=hoodlum {{!}} Search Online Etymology Dictionary|url=https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=hoodlum|access-date=2021-12-22|website=www.etymonline.com}}</ref> or derived from a gang named Hood's Boys, named after Hood's Saloon, the gang's base of operations in San Francisco.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Theodore|first=Urban Andrew|url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/54872/Urban_umn_0130E_10473.pdf.txt|title=An Intimate World: Race, Migration, and Chinese and Irish Domestic Servants in the United States, 1850-1920|publisher=Graduate School of the University of Minnesota|year=2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Coleman, William Tell|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/215455817|title=William Tell Coleman statements : and other material|publisher=The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley|oclc=215455817}}</ref> As early as 1876, the origins of "hoodlum" were described as lost.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fisher|first=Walter M.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/57557815|title=The Californians|date=1876|publisher=Macmillan and Co|oclc=57557815}}</ref>
==See also==
*[[Hooligan]]
*[[Gangster]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{cite web|title=Hoodlum|url=http://www.frederickbee.com/hoodlum.html|accessdate=November 16, 2017}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:American English words]]
[[Category:English words]]