Hoodsies

In some Boston neighborhoods, a hoodsie is a cute teen-age girl. Brightonjohn, though, writes that in his neck of the woods - the Faneuil housing project in Brighton - it had a different meaning:

Across from the project is a playground officially known as McKinney Field but referred to universally as "Faneuil Pahk." "Ovah the pahk," as we'd say, every Fourth of July, the City of Boston would provide free Hoodsies to any kids who asked. Hundreds of kids would line up. The playground workers, teenagers, usually, who copped an easy summer job from some local politician, were pretty diligent about making sure that each kid got only one. Some kids, bolder than I, would always make a stab at getting a second or a third by getting back in the line but usually got caught, somehow. It was a great game.

Back across the street, the project management would run dances, "reckid hops", in the project's recreation hall. Because no older teens would be caught dead at one of these affairs crowded with 11-to-13-year-olds, they were derisively known by all as "Hoodsie hops", a reference to the young kids, not the ice cream cups.