Every once in a while, when our Mr. Anderson begins his "Cranky Spanky,
Sister Nun of the Above, Herr Oberst or Kolonel Klunk routine, he has
been greeted as "Major Hoople". Recently one r.r.a.p. denizen asked me
who the Major was. After I told him and he looked up "Our Boarding
House", he wondered how old I really am.

While Our Boarding House ran in newspapers beginning in 1921, the strip
had a long run under several writers/artists until 1981.

The following was found at www.toonpedia.com

"Major Amos B. Hoople, perhaps the greatest windbag, stuffed shirt and
blowhard ever to "hrumph" his way across the funnies page. It was four
months before the Major appeared on the scene (returning from a ten-year
absence from Martha's life), but he quickly took over to the point where
many people today think his name was the feature's title."

"Major Hoople had a huge, bulbous nose and an even huger gut. He sported
a scraggly moustache and smoked rank cigars. He was seldom seen without
a battered fez. In addition to near-archaic expressions like 'egad' and
'drat', he was often heard mouthing such non-words as 'fap', 'awp' and
'kaff'. His favorite mode of expression was long-winded discourses about
his prestigious and astonishing experiences, which nobody took seriously
and only his occasionally-seen nephew, Alvin, even pretended to pay
attention to."

Dave K8MN