hoodling
n.— «Dr. Wolf: “What is hoodling?” Mr. Ferrell: “That’s it, hoodling (demonstrates “Possum in a pawpaw patch, picking up pawpaws and putting them in his pocket.”).” Dr. Wolf: “That’s hoodling, is it?” Mr. Ferrell: “Yeah, that’s hoodling too, I guess. That’s hoodling too.”)» —“Hoodling Song” by James Clifton Ferrell in Memphis, Tennessee John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection (Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas) June 30, 1963. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...
There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little seven-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding — and all in Latin. A new book argues that this rigorous curriculum actually nurtured the creativity that later flourished...
The word “hoodling” as an adjective comes in “Binker” a poem by AA Milne written (I guess) about 1925 … oddly (?) enough it is quoted in The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins .
What the word means in the context of the poem I have no idea at all .