Hooray

n

British

a young upper-class male, particularly one who indulges in offensive, rowdy, hearty and/or vacuous behaviour. This pejorative term arose in the late 1960s to describe the more exhibitionist members of a social subgroup which was later anatomised under the name Sloane Rangers. Hooray was a later shortening. A version of this epithet first appeared in Damon Runyon's story Tight Shoes, in which a young man called Calvin Colby was described as 'without doubt, strictly a Hooray Henry'. In March 1990 Vis-count Linley won libel damages from Today newspaper which had, among more serious allegations, referred to him as a Hooray.

► 'Hooray Henrys sometimes cruise down here just looking for an old codger to beat up. The last time they did it, we smashed up their flashy car.' (Homeless dosser, Observer, 6 August 1987)