Etymology

This term is an alteration of whore—African American Vernacular English. Apparently, this word came out because its pronunciation sounded quite similar to that of “whore”. Its plural form is hos, not hoes.

“Whore” came from the Middle English hore, which in turn came from Old English hre.

By the way, Middle English is the English language of the period roughly between 1150 and 1475, and Old English between 450 and 1150.

Scholars tell us that “whore” originally came from the Indo-European root k–, which means “to like, desire”.

From this root derived a stem kro–, from which came the prehistoric common Germanic word hraz with the underlying meaning “one who desires” and the effective meaning “adulterer.”

Its feminine form, hrn, became hre in Old English—the ancestor of Modern English whore.

In another branch of the Indo-European family, the same stem kro– produced the Latin word crus, “dear.” This word has several derivatives borrowed into English, including caress, cherish, and charity.

Another derivative of the root k– in Indo-European was kmo–, a descendant of which is the Sanskrit word for “love,” kma, which appears in the name of the most famous treatise on love and lovemaking—the Kamasutra.

Of course, it has nothing to do with Santa’s Ho Ho Ho.

This is used as an interjection for an exclamation of surprise, delight, exultation and so on.

It is also used as a call to attract attention, sometimes specially used after a word denoting a destination as shown in the following examples:

Westward ho!

Land ho!

Do you know, your kids can write to Santa Claus?

Of course, if you like, you can!
Canada Post has the Santa Letter Writing Program. Every Christmas, more than one million children in Canada and around the world write letters to Santa Claus.

Canada Post employees have volunteered to answer these letters since 1982. Every year, approximately 13,000 employees reply to these letters in 16 languages and Braille. Santa’s address is :

Your Kid’s name
12345 Anywhere Street,
Your Town, Your Country,
Postal Code

SANTA CLAUS
NORTH POLE
CANADA
HOH OHO

Please take a look at the postal code: HOH OHO.
Yes, it is Ho Ho Ho!
Actually, this should read “H zero H, zero H zero”.

For example, the postal code of my Canadian address is V6G 1K4 as shown below:

123456 Some Street,
Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada   V6G 1K4.

Ho

Noun

1. a harlot; a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money

Synonyms

• bawd
• bitch
• cocotte
• cyprian
• fancy woman
• harlot
• hooker
• hussy
• lady of pleasure
• prostitute
• slut
• sporting lady
• tart
• trollop
• whore
• woman of the street
• working girl

Usage

I’m just tellin’ ya. That chap is a two-faced lying son of a ho. Don’t trust that sunovagun.

If you don’t know about sunovagun, please click the above link. A new window will open up.