[dennisw]

I'm curious about the word "hooey". Was this ever the scientist's term or was it used by the writer as a means of labelling him "out of date".

DEFINITELY an old timey expression. My dad uses it. I think I'll start using it
Some sources say hooey means nonsense, others say it means bullshit

[Tokra]

I'm curious about the word "hooey". Was this ever the scientist's term or was it used by the writer as a means of labelling him "out of date".

DEFINITELY an old timey expression. My dad uses it. I think I'll start using it Some sources say hooey means nonsense, others say it means bullshit.

A website called Mavens' Word of the Day says this about Hooey:

The word hooey, by the way, is first recorded in the early 1910s; it is of uncertain origin but does not seem to have originally referred to excrement, though it did develop this sense much later.