I always thought...

I always thought a person "harked a loogie". After some research, however, I find that it's not harking at all!

Hawk a Loogie

This is a slang phrase with many variants. The verb is usually either hawk or hock and the subject varies between loogie, louie, lungie, and lunger. It means to cough up phlegm and dates to the 1970s.

Hawk is an old verb meaning to clear the throat or cough up phlegm. It dates to the late 16th century and is probably echoic in origin. Hock is a corruption of the original hawk.

Regarding the second half, lunger is probably the original. That word has meant a gob of phlegm since 1946, and a tuberculosis patient since the 1890s. The other forms are probably corruptions and variants on this original.

So, while it's not "harking" at all, and has nothing to do with the word of the week, it's still VERY educational!

Thanks to http://www.wordorigins.org