Hooks

I've been working on an idea for a fund raising event for this fall - money raised would go to women's cancer causes through Southampton Hospital. Anyway, during a discussion about this event I was told I should look for "a hook" - i.e. a celebrity to attend and attract ticket buyers.

That got me to thinking about the whole "hook" thing. There was a time when getting "the hook" was not a good thing. It meant being pulled off the stage during the vaudeville years, right? In East Hampton "the hook" meant an area at the west end of the village around the Hook Mill and if you were going there you were going "down hook" or "to the hook".

In this instance it refers to a person or event that "hooks people in" to an idea or an event or whatever it is being discussed. So now I'm looking for a "hook".

I'm fascinated with words and phrases and love the historical significance of them. So many of the terms we use are Biblical, like "turning the other cheek" and "pearls before swine". In fact, I've heard people attribute sayings to Shakespeare that are actually Biblical. Origins are so important and often give a deeper meaning to things when known.

I love language.