A woman in Bozeman, Montana, wonders if any other families use the term “horning hour” as synonym for “happy hour.” The term’s a bit of a mystery, although it may have something to do with horning as in a shivaree, charivari, or other noisy celebration in the Old West. This is part of a complete episode.
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Lindy didn’t say when her parents and friends created the phrase “horning hour”, so I’d like to ask her two questions that might reveal a possible answer to its meaning. 1. Did this phrase originate during the late 1950s or ’60s? 2. Were the people involved avid football fans? If the answers to these questions are both “Yes”, I’d suggest that the expression she heard was not “horning hour” but “Hornung Hour”. If so it was named after Paul Hornung, a great running back for Notre Dame and the Green Bay Packers, who was famous as a drinker and party-goer. Nicknamed “The Golden Boy” he won the Heisman Trophy and was elected to both the college and professional Hall of Fame. But he was also famous for booze and parties. A clever group in the sixties looking to name their happy hour couldn’t do better than to label it their “Hornung Hour”.