HOOKER ORIGIN

HOOKER

It has nothing to do with predatory ladies of the night. Indeed this term for a female employed in the oldest trade in the world is derived from an eighteenth century Dutch fishing boat. These tubby little boats were robust working boats that tended to look somewhat worse for wear or ‘well used’. Hence British sailors adopted the name to describe prostitutes who although they had been around for a good while was still ‘serviceable’. Nice.