HOOP

General currency, though used most frequently by “short-odds” grafters who practice merchandising by unlicensed solicitation. A finger ring. A “phony hoop” is a gold-plated ring. Grafters of mediocre intellectuality seek protection from apprehension for vagrancy by carrying a stock of “hoops,” “glims” and “supers,” or “blocks” (watches). Not to be confounded with the jovial exclamation, “Whoops! my dear,” of fairies and theatrical characters.