TER General Board
1. They have the ability to share their most private, sensitive
body parts with total strangers.
2.They have access to places other people don't!
3.They challenge sexual moves.
4.They are playful.
5.They are tough.
6.They have careers based on giving pleasure.
7.They are creative.
8.They are adventurous and dare to live dangerously.
9.They teach people to be better lovers.
10.They are multi-cultured and multi-gendered.
11.They give excellent advice and help people with their personal
problems.
12.They have fun.
13.They wear exciting clothes.
14.They have the patience and tolerance for people that other people could never manage to put up with.
15.They make lonely people less lonely.
16.They are independent.
17.They teach people how to have safer sex.
18.They are a tradition.
19.They are hip.
20.They have a good sense of humor.
21.They relieve millions of people of unwanted stress and tension.
22.They heal.
23.They endure in the face of fierce prejudice.
24.They make good money.
25.They always have a job.
26.They are sexy and erotic.
27.They have special talents other people just don't have. Not everyone has what it takes to be a provider.
28.They are interesting people with lots of exciting life stories.
29.They get laid alot.
30.They help people explore their sexual desires.
31.They explore their own sexual desires.
32.They are not afraid of sex.
33.They hustle.
34.They sparkle.
35.They are entertaining.
36.They have the guts to wear very big wigs.
37.They are not ashamed to be naked.
38.They help the handicapped.
39.They make their own hours.
40.They are rebelling against the absurd, patriarchal, sex-negative laws against their profession and are fighting for the legal right to recieve financial compensation for their valuable work.
Written by Annie M. Sprinkle
Forty Reasons Why Whores are My Heroes.
I changed the word Whores to Providers, as I did not what to offend anyone. 
-- Modified on 12/11/2003 9:58:13 PM
-- Modified on 12/12/2003 12:05:10 AM
You, could, be a Client, Customer, Hobbyist, John, He Whore,
Trick or A Real Treat, Baby! LOL
Take your choice! LOL
Can anyone add to the list?
-- Modified on 12/12/2003 6:23:47 PM
-- Modified on 12/12/2003 6:55:44 PM
Thanks for the informative post, Laurel. Using only the data provided by dictionary.com in the link you've provided, I believe I can extrapolate the origin of the term. It won't be pretty, but not many things involving sailors are ever pretty. First, let's look at the specifics I am drawing upon.
Among the first known references to the word hooker is this one with definition: It also appears in the second edition of John Russell Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms, published in 1859, where it is defined as “a strumpet, a sailor's trull.” (A trull is defined as a prostitute.)
Other definitions of hooker: 2. (Naut.) (a) A Dutch vessel with two masts. (b) A fishing boat with one mast, used on the coast of Ireland. (c) A sailor's contemptuous term for any antiquated craft.
I think that's all we really need to know to get a pretty accurate picture of the origin of the word. Immigrant sailors spend weeks at a time out to sea. They return to land unclean, unshaven, and full of stress; the kind of unclean that can only be appreciated if you've ever had the misfortune of walking into an armory just as a company of infantry was returning from 2 weeks of maneuvers. These are not wealthy men. They would be splurging to see one of the $1 ladies that were common in that era. No, these men would be more apt to relieve their pressure with the 2-bit equivalent of our modern day crack ho. It’s not much of a leap to visualize the likely first use of the term hooker.
A group of sailors are walking to the nearest saloon for baths, drinks, and fun. They see a particularly cracktastic lady working the docks.
Sailor 1 (sarcastically): Oh yeah, she’s a real looker.
Sailor 2: More like a real HOOKER!
The sailors all burst into laughter. It becomes the joke of the evening, and quickly becomes an inside joke among all sailors of the day. The general population picks up on the use of the term, but they don’t get the joke. It turns into just another derogatory term for ladies of the evening. (or morning if you're in Galveston)