G-H
Human billboards
People who collect in standouts at rotaries or on overpasses with campaign signs, sometimes causing gahkablahkas. The candidate's the one who doesn't have a sign in his hand.
Hub
What Boston is: The Hub of the Universe. First coined by writer Oliver Wendell Holmes, who actually referred to the State House as the hub of the solar system; for many years, a plaque in the sidewalk in front of Filene's downtown commemorated the exact center of the universe. Actually, pretty much the only people who use the word anymore are headline writers looking for a short synonym for "Boston,'' as in the aprocryphal Globe headline:
Hoodsie
1. A small cup of ice cream, the kind that comes with a flat wooden spoon (from H.P. Hood, the dairy that sells them). KC Black reports: "Part of their charm was on finishing them you'd suck and then fold the wooden spoon risking splintahs from the folded wood." To which Dee Burton adds: "The lid had a brown-tone picture of a movie star covered by a thin layer of protector paper that you peeled off. Sure wish I'd kept those covers. Police used to give us free Hoodsies and free movies on the morning of July 4, in the days when fireworks were legal in Mass. (that's how far back I go!).''
2. Certain teen-aged girls, who, like the ice cream, are "short and sweet and good to eat." Jo Ann Kendricken recounts: "Growing up in Roslindale (scooping went on here and in W. Roxbury as well as Hyde Park), I was a hoodsie, and now when I tell people that, they automatically call me a 'Rozzie chick/rat' and say, 'So, you are a tough girl, aren't you? Better not mess with you!' For the record, I have never been in a fight, but it's nice to know that no one will mess witcha!'
