Hi, Carol,

Well, it really doesn't mean anything. It was a made-up word created by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, two Canadian comedians in Toronto. Dave Thomas was a veteran of the comedy cabaret called "Second City" that flourished in Toronto in the mid-to-late 70's, as I recall. Some of the greatest comedians of the late 20th century got their start at Second City doing stand up comedy for live audiences. These people were GOOD!

A number of them then got an idea for a TV comedy whose main premise would be to mock television itself...thus was born the show "SCTV"...a 1 hour comedy show on the Global TV Network in Toronto, Canada.

SCTV was supposedly a very small independent TV network of its own. Accordingly the show had a lot of little short skits (and some longer ones) that simulated a day's programming on a TV station. There were news reports, sports reports, soap operas, adventure shows, talk shows, interviews, and just plain totally weird stuff...most of it VERY funny.

I think SCTV was the cleverest satirical show of all time, in fact.

At any rate, one of the SCTV series of skits became hugely popular in the USA...that was "The Great White North" featuring the 2 moronic Canadian brothers Doug and Bob MacKenzie (fictional characters created by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis). Moranis was not a veteran of Second City, but he became an important member of the SCTV crew, and has had a very successful career since, in any number of Hollywood movies.

So...Doug and Bob MacKenzie...they were idiots who wore toques and cruddy old jackets and were supposedly typical of young Canadian men (the REALLY stupid ones, that is...). Their working vocabulary was limited to about 25 or so words and simple phrases. Their interests included beer, back bacon, beer, sitting around, beer, um...and beer mostly.

Now, it is well known that Americans think stupidity is hilarious, and that most successful American comedy is based upon that. Accordingly, "The Great White North" became hugely popular south of the Canadian border, while the other SCTV stuff (which was very clever, satirical, and witty) did not. Doug and Bob then became hugely popular in Canada as well, which is what always happens. The USA sneezes, and Canada catches a cold.

It made SCTV, while alienating most of its cast, who couldn't figure out why one of the least clever skits was getting all the attention. Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis were flabbergasted by the whole thing. All of a sudden it was like Beatlemania every time they showed themselves on the street.

Believe me, I remember, it was nuts. Every teenage guy in Canada was going "Take off, you hoser!" "Beauty, eh?" and all the other stuff like that. This was in the early 80's.

So..."hoser" was a made up word that NO ONE used before it appeared on SCTV.

However, in its own realm of understanding "hoser" basically meant: a goof, a dummy, a moron, a dweeb, an idiot, a loser, etc...

Got the idea?

That's my long answer to your short question.

- LH