What Do You Want, a Hoodsie?

I went grocery shopping today and stood by the freezer case for awhile and stared. It's friggin' hot here in Manhattan, and I knew I was not leaving without something cold and edible, something preferably on a stick.

There were ice cream sandwiches, fudgesicles, popsicles, and bags of little cups of ice cream each with a wooden stick wrapped in paper. We had the same sort of thing growing up in Massachusetts, ours were made by Hood, branded Hoodsies. Hoodsies I believe came in sundae varieties as well as everyone's favorite, a twist of chocolate and vanilla with a wooden "spoon" as an eating utensil.

Hoodsies were such a part of life 'round those parts, so superfluous, that the word made it into the local lexicon. When someone would blurt out something that someone else felt was a cry for praise, the someone else would shout, "What do you want, a Hoodsie?" Same meaning as the phrase, "What do you want, an award?"

Let's just say that there wasn't a day that went by at Swampscott Junior High School where "What do you want, a Hoodsie?" wasn't uttered at least 50,000 times. The phrase was not to be understood literally as no Hoodsie was ever actually being offered. The standard reply was, "Shut up!" I think. Or, "You're gay." Either of those.

Let's say you're rolling your eyes reading this and thinking, "Duh, I already know what a Hoodsie is."Well, congratulations to you.

What do you want, a Hoodsie?