Dictionary definition of “woolly-booger”

woolly-booger

n. (also woolly-bugger) 1. (colloquial) the larval-stage insect known as the woolly worm or woolly bear; a fishing fly that resembles such an insect. 2. (in the American Southwest, slang) an extraordinary example of a thing. 3. (in Oklahoma and Louisiana, slang) provisions intended to be overlooked in legislation. Subjects: English, Animals, Insects, & Birds, Politics, Sports & Recreation, Colloquial, Slang

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Citations: [1948 (Mar. 1) (in Houston, Texas) @ New York Times (Feb. 3, 1950) “Styles Nominated As N.L.R.B. Member” p. 15: Since we are now in the heart of Texas, most of you know that some million years ago a number of large, wooly animals walked the plains of Texas as monarchs of all they surveyed. These animals, these so-called wooly boogers, were dinosaurs.…They had an extremely small brain.…If you don’t keep developing your brain, as well as your arms, you may wind up in the same position those ancient wooly boogers did.…Quit howling about a slave labor law and…settle down and go to work and try to develop your organizing and negotiating techniques in accordance with the new law.] 1959 Jim Monroe @ Oklahoma City Ada Evening News (Oklahoma) (Jan. 9) “State House Brews Storm” p. 1: “Why, we’re liable to be here until the Fourth of July,” declared Rep. John Levergood of Shawness and woollybooger fame. Levergood considers himself a watchdog in the House and bounces to the microphone to denounce any bill he considers woolybooger. 1960 Fresno Bee (California) (Feb. 19) “Help Wanted” (in classifieds) p. 7-C: Wooly bugger lures 1962 Evening Sentinel (Holland, Michigan) (June 14) “Definitely” p. 4: Woolly-booger is cowboy talk for any wild revelry. San Antonio is going to start its annual Fiesta, or woollybooger, on April 21. [1966 D.K. Wilgus Journal of American Folklore, (Oct.-Dec.) ““Field” Recordings” p. 632: McCormick opines that (here?) boogie woogie “is not a musical reference but an outgrowth of bogie or bogie man. Considering the sexual connotation of boogie woogie (woolly booger in central Kentucky), we seem to have a vagina dentata motif.] 1986 John Keasler Atlanta Journal (Georgia) (Nov. 11) “Pinknecks are confusing great redneck debate” p. A/11: Only a couple of weeks ago, on a visit home, I saw what at first looked like a redneck—he had him a tall wooly booger of a high-rider pickup and that job had more spotlights on it than the entire Plant City police force owns and he was tooling along spitting and scratching with this dawg on a chain back in the truck bed. 1987 Bruce Whitman Harrisburg Patriot (Pennsylvania) (Feb. 13) “Ryan, Holbrook capture fly-tying championships” p. D6: A forum…gave spectators ample opportunity to observe first-hand the delicate and demanding skills required to create a bit of hook and fluff realistic enough to fool a wild trout.…Juniors worked on the Woolly Booger; Hare’s Ear nymph and Fur Body ant. 1992 Victoria Loe Dallas Morning News (Texas) (Apr. 17) “Meek: ‘I went in there with good intentions’” p. 25A: “Paul is kind of a bull moose type,” says a former associate who asked not to be named. “He doesn’t learn,” says Mr. Moss, who refers to his former boss as “a big old wooly booger.” 1992 D.R. Segal Orange County Register (California) (Sept. 6) “The Rev. Jack is not part of Gore’s jet set” p. G04: On yonder table,” said the Rev. Jack Daniel, “you will find Old No. 7 tonic and blood purifier which exhibits remarkable medicinal properties. I would suggest you pour each of us a tot or two to ward off the Woolly Booger Fever which often strikes without warning in these parts on a September evening.” 1992 Jim Wright Dallas Morning News (Texas) (Oct. 25) “Yes, but what about varmints’ garments?” p. 7J: Wooly worm analysts from miles around, in convention assembled, gravely discussed the state of the 1992 wooly worms’ fur.…Texans, of course, know that this is nonsense. And by the way, we also know that the actual, proper name for this little varmint is “wooly booger.” 1993 Billy Porterfield Austin American-Statesman (Texas) (Apr. 25) “Profits get priority in picking which ram to put out to pasture” p. B1: But Old Man Harden said no, that he wasn’t in the business of sentiment, and that while it was a woolly booger of a call, he had to go with a young hot hand who had a future over an old master in his last bloom. 1993 Philip Stent Houston Chronicle (Texas) (Sept. 5) “The breakfast society” p. 4: Looks like a woolly booger of a storm brewing up. 1996 Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada) (May 30) “Inside Track Etobicoke’s Lord Of The Flies” p. P10: “It’s like a woolly bugger,” the 61-year-old doctor explains as he wraps the green herl of a peacock feather around the metal shank of a fishhook, “but I’m going to tie it like a cockatouche.” 1996 Libby Quaid @ Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Associated Press) (Aug. 22) “Utility Watchdog Runs for Corporation Commission”: Ms. Peltier has been just as determined to read every word of the legislation that crosses her desk, often to the consternation of fellow members, to keep anyone from sneaking a “woolly booger” past the House. “I get up at 3 a.m. to read the bills, and that’s true,” she said. 1997 Michael Montgomery @ Dictionary of Smokey Mountain English (2004) Michael Montgomery, Joseph S. Hall p. 657: Anything or anyone frightful looking, as “he looked like a wooly booger with that long hair and ragged clothes.” 1997 New Orleans Times-Picayune (Louisiana) (May 30) “Baton Rouge Report News And Views From The Louisiana Legislature” p. A3: Rep. Robert Barton, R-Bossier City, introducing his bill to exempt Shreveport-area riverboat casinos from Coast Guard inspections. “I’m not bringing you a wooly-booger.” 2001 Tim Talley @ Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Associated Press) (Apr. 18) “House passes right-to-work initiative”: “Right to work is a chamber of commerce woolly booger designed to confuse the public,” said Rep. Don Ross, D-Tulsa. 2005 Guillermo Bartelt Style (Dec. 1) “Hegemonic Registers in Momaday’s House Made of Dawn” vol. 39, no. 4,: “Physiologically, the salient characteristic of peyote is its production of visual hallucinations or color visions, as well as kinesthetic, olfactory, and auditory derangements.” Or, to put it another way, that little old woolly booger turns you on like a light, man. Daddy peyote is the vegetal representation of the sun. 2007 Julie Bisbee NewsOK (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) (May 16) “Law ends towns’ trap designation…”: Smithson, also a retired state trooper, called Roan’s amendment a “woolly-booger,” a colloquial term for last-minute language inserted in a bill that has far-reaching impact. “He’s a very sharp House member, and he saw an opportunity to get a woolly-booger right in the middle of this bill,” said Smithson. “Nobody bothered to read it because it was a clean-up bill.”

Posted 17 May 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend