hootenanny

English

Etymology

Unknown; potentially Scottish. Use is tied to the Appalachian culture in the US.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhutənæni/

Noun

hootenanny (plural hootenannies)

1. (music) An informal, festive performance by folk singers, often including audience participation with the use of acoustic instruments.

   Coordinate term: jam session

   • 2013 August 11, Jody Rosen, “Jody Rosen on the Rise of Bro-Country”, in New York Magazine‎^[1]:

     It bespoke country’s devotion to realism, to songs about Saturday night’s hootenanny and Sunday morning’s moral reckoning, not to mention the kitchen-table truths of Monday through Friday.

2. (obsolete) A placeholder word for a nonspecific or forgotten thing.

   Synonyms: thingamajig; see also Thesaurus:thingy

Further reading

• hootenanny on Wikipedia.Wikipedia