hoo-ha

• hoohaa, hoohar, hoo-haa, hoo-har, hoo-hah, hoohah

Perhaps from Yiddish הו־האַ (hu-ha, “a hullabaloo”).

The second sense is likely expressive; compare such similar terms in other languages as Spanish juju.

(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhuːˌhɑː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

hoo-ha (plural hoo-has)

1. A fuss, an uproar, a commotion or stir; hype; brouhaha, hullabaloo.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:commotion

   There was a big hoo-ha about it in the papers, and then the world completely forgot the matter.

   • 2023 February 20, Vanessa Friedman, “Don Lemon, Nikki Haley and the Lessons of a Hoodie”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Tucker Carlson (also a jacket and tie guy) picked up on the hoo-ha on his Fox News show, calling the hoodie-jacket combination a “cry for help” and inviting Roger Stone, the disgraced former political operative and author of his own “Best and Worst dressed List,” to comment.

2. (slang, euphemistic) The vagina, the vulva.
   • 2009, Linda Howard, Burn, page 242:

     Did that make her a good judge of character, or a fool who was letting her hoo-ha do her thinking for her?

   • 2009, Lexi Ryan, Stilettos, Inc., page 163:

     She didn't want to lose their childish battle of wills, but neither did she want some parasite swimming up her hoo-ha.

   • 2010, Dee Tenorio, All Or Nothing, page 54:

     His mother later expressed disappointment that she'd been wrong, but by then, Belinda had a butterfly on her hoo-ha.

   • 2024 April 13, Tara Davis-Woodhall, quotee, “‘My hoo haa is gonna be out’: US Olympians slam Nike for skimpy women’s track kit”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Tara Davis-Woodhall, an American who placed sixth in the long jump at the Tokyo Games and took silver at last year’s world championships, reacted with equal parts humor and horror, commenting: “Wait my hoo haa is gonna be out.”

• hooah