Hopoate, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Hopoate v.

also Hopowati, Hopawati

[from John Hopoate (pron. hoppo-ah-tay), Tongan-Australian rugby league footballer famed and shamed for goosing opposition players in 2001]

1. (Aus./N.Z.) to prod someone’s anus with the finger; especially to goose an opponent on the sporting field; also kn fig. use.

2001		Sydney Morn. Herald 19 May 🌐 A Year 2 child (seven to eight years old) had complained to his teacher that he had been ‘Hopoated’ and he was quite upset about this. When I investigated, I found that a group of children, boys and girls in Year 2, had been grabbing each other and then sticking their finger up the backside of the other child.
2003		Fishnet.com.au 17 July 🌐 Rectally fitted electric pencil sharpeners are crude but effective protection against being ‘Hopoated’.
2007		Squackle.com 11 Aug. 🌐 hopoate - v. to jam your fingers up someone’s arse. I made this word up after Aussie Rugby player John Hopoate jammed his fingers up the arses of footballers. Ex. Oh my god, that guy got hopoated by some sick freak!!!
2010		Straight Dope Message Board 11 Sept. 🌐 The player quit the club today and is pursuing a contract in the super league. I wonder if he’ll be able to come back or if his reputation has been forever Hopoated.
2011		NZ Herald: Rugby Dict. 🌐 Hopoated def: Being motivated by a team-mate from behind to pick up your game.
2017		‘10 Kiwi words that are not used enough’ in Mai 15 Aug. 🌐 Hopoate To forcibly insert your finger in somebody’s butt. (As originally performed by Rugby League player John Hopoate). ‘Watch out - I’ll Hopoate you!’.

2. (also hopo) hence, as n. an act or instance of goosing, especially an opponent on the sporting field.

2005		Urban Dict. 25 Apr. 🌐 Hopoate Also known as a ‘Hopo.’ To forcibly insert your finger in somebody’s anus. (As originally performed by Rugby League player John Hopoate). that poof was trying to give him a hopo!
2009		Kiwi Biker 10 Sept. 🌐 The guy must have some real issues man... Biting off part of a ‘friends’ ear... that’s messed up. Fighting maybe but Mike Tyson styles haha maybe not. Next he’ll be caught doing a Hopowati haha.
2014		Swans Tragics 25 Jan. 🌐 [W]atch these Iranian players celebrating goals by ‘Doin’ The Hopoate’.

In compounds

Hopoate finger (n.)

1. the goosing manoeuvre.

2011		S. James Leaf Blower Children 17 Apr. 🌐 Thomas was only eighteen months old when he started giving unsuspecting strangers [...] the Hopoate finger. (John Hopoate is an Australian rugby league player who is infamous for giving an opposing player a brown eye gouge, and I don’t mean the eye on his face.) This abnormal behaviour was most disturbing, both to me and to Thomas’s victims, as it could only have meant that someone was doing it to him .
2018		Hoops.com.au 8 Apr. 🌐 Adams should have been fined for two horrible flops in this game, ballet stuff really, from a tough man from the land of the long white cloud and the infamous Hopawati finger.

2. the nickname of a public art installation in Brisbane, Australia, which has a large silver hand with one finger held prominently aloft. Thus, the Hopoate Building, fronting this installation.

2012		Brisbane Times 6 Jan. 🌐 Although the sculpture is called Chat, it has become popularly known as the ‘Hopoate finger’, a reference to former rugby league player John Hopoate who in 2001 gained notoriety for poking opposing players in the backside.
2012		Brisbane Times 6 Jan. 🌐 Brisbane City Council has come to the rescue of an Eagle Street sculpture that gave rise to the ‘Hopoate Building’ moniker.
20214		Courier-Mail 13 Nov. 🌐 These [cycles] are not for use and are purely ornamental. They are a bizarre art installation like the Hopoate Finger at 175 Eagle St. If you don’t know why it’s called the Hopoate Finger, ask Tony Abbott to explain.