Hooligans
Today, The Huffington Post reports:
MINSK, Belarus — A homemade bomb exploded at an outdoor concert in Belarus’ capital early Friday, injuring at least 50 people. Officials blamed hooligans.
Damned hooligans!
I don’t mean to make fun of this:it’s a terrible thing. But I must say that I’m sort of pleased to see that hooligans are showing a little ambition. Enough of tying tin cans to the tails of alley cats! Enough of stealing oranges from fruitstands! Hooligans, show a little daring! Surprise us!
I just love some words, and this is one of them. I mean, think of what it does to this event to say that it was done by hooligans instead of terrorists! It makes you want to chuck the chins and tousle the hair of these young whippersnappers! I’ve seen several stories about the origin of this word. Supposedly there was an Irish family of Hoolihans that raised their share of cain back in the day, but the OED speaks of a comic book character named Hooligan that might also be the origin. I read one story of a bouncer Hooligan at a club who killed a policeman, but I have my doubts.
It seems there should be a good band named The Hooligans, but I can only turn up a “classic rock” band and an Irish American band by that name, so we can assume neither one is any good. C’mon Pete Dougherty, I’m counting on you here.