Who knows what a Koosher is?

[Baitball Blogger]

It comes from American Literature and I'm probably spelling it wrong. It could be Kwoosher.

[mackerel]

1. There's a poet, Ted Kooser?

[Baitball Blogger]

2. I think it comes from an O'Henry story.

[pscot]

3. Kooter

is a slang term for vulva. What's the context? Is it used in a sentence?

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Nope. Definitely not that.

It was an O'Henry story about someone who claimed to be a Kwoosher.

[LiberalElite]

5. I thought you meant this

[Baitball Blogger]

6. Nope.

Crazy that an O'Henry story could have been lost in time.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Do you have the sentence/phrase containing the word?

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Here's the story line:

One day a new seaman comes on board a naval ship and everyone is intrigued by him because they're told that he has impressive credentials. Specifically, he is a Master Koosher and along with his personal belongings he brings along a box with unknown contents. Because he has a university degree (which back in O'Henry's time meant something), he's assigned the best of everything and treated like a top officer.

Then one day someone finally asks him what a Koosher does. He said he would have to demonstrate. So everyone is there the day that he takes this huge metal piling out of the box and fires it up (Don't ask me how he starts a fire on board, but that is one of the mysteries that can be answered if we can find the story.) Anyway, then he gets a pair of blacksmith tongs to pick up the heated piling and takes it overboard and drops it in the water where everyone hears an audible, "Koooooooooooshhhhh"

[pinboy3niner]

10. You might look up O. Henry story titles and see if anything rings a bell. nt

[Baitball Blogger]

11. I did. And couldn't find anything.

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. Well, there you are then.

Sounds as if the author successfully pulled your leg, as he had no doubt done the same to other readers.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. Well, assuming it's an O'Henry story, the motto is that we should never

make assumptions about anyone's competence based on their credentials.

[easychoice]

14. Blacksmith

Are you sure that's O'Henry? That sounds like my Grandpa pulling my leg/having me on a bit...He used to come up with some duzies.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. I definitely read it from a literature book.

[pinboy3niner]

16. It must have been...

...yet another story about Ashton. Guy gets around! Now step away from the fanzines...

[Baitball Blogger]

17. Ashton Kutcher wasn't even born yet.

Damn it! I'm so old!

[chrisa]

18. Nostalgia blast incoming

WOOSH!

[Baitball Blogger]

20. Maybe it was Woosher?

[Wounded Bear]

7. The one thing I can think of...

would be a Kentuckian transplanted to Indiana, and there are a lot of them IIRC. Then one would be a [K]entucky Hoosier, right?

[shenmue]

19. I couldn't find anything

Sorry.