The lighter side of LC: Budget lodging
Lee Elliott
Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: Columns
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This spring break my travelling companions and I coined a new term while staying in sunny Orlando, Fla. From now on, to all of us, "HoJo," the universal shorthand for a Howard Johnson Hotel, is not just a noun, but also a verb. "To be HoJo'd" means to be cheated, scammed, gypped, etc.
It all started one morning as we rose, groggy and hungry, from our slumber in the badly overcrowded double room. One of us mentioned that the sign out in front of the Howard Johnson we were staying in had mentioned a continental breakfast. With rumbling stomachs and purpose, we set out for the hotel cafeteria, where we were treated to a relatively wonderful spread of eggs, bacon and assorted breakfast items.
All was going well until halfway through the meal, when I spotted a small and (probably intentionally) tucked away sign that said "Breakfast: $6." It felt like there should have been one of those movie moments where I drop my fork and it falls in slow motion, making a huge thud as it hit my plate. Instead, there was just the sound of a lot of grumbling and protesting, and not even in slow motion.
Aside from feeling cheated, I was led to an interesting philosophical problem. If "continental" did not mean "free," what did it mean? I had only ever seen this word used to describe the good guys in the Revolutionary War and free breakfasts at hotels. I didn't notice my eggs rebelling against my English muffin, and I had paid for the breakfast, so it wasn't either of those definitions. After metaphorically thumbing through dictionary.com, I discovered that in the case of breakfast it probably means "of or pertaining to the mainland of Europe, to Europeans, or to European customs and attitudes" which is confusing, because the only thing European about my breakfast was that I didn't tip the waiter after I discovered the scam they were pulling. All things considered, we had to fork over money for a breakfast we were tricked into thinking was free, and thus, the term "HoJo'd" was born.
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