Sunday, May 08, 2005

"Hocked" or "Hawked"?

The National Catholic Register has the following story title: "Catholics Boycott eBay Over Hocked Host"

I'd never heard the word "hocked" before, so I checked on dictionary.com and here's the definition of "hocked":

1. The tarsal joint of the hind leg of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse, corresponding to the human ankle but bending in the opposite direction.
A joint in the leg of a domestic fowl similar to the hock of a quadruped.

2. A small cut of meat, especially ham, from the front or hind leg directly above the foot.


Do they mean "hawked," i.e., to peddle wares, etc?

This is either extreme literalism or incompetence . . . or it could just plain be correct.

Update: A commenter notes that "to hock" is "to pawn."

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"To hock" means "to pawn."

3:45 PM  
Blogger Ono said...

Hey, I guess they were right . . . still sounds weird! (He said obstinately).

3:51 PM  

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