Honky

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Honky, Honkey or Honkie is an American racial slur for a white person, usually applied to males.

Contents 1 Origin 2 Folk etymologies 3 See also 4 Bibliography

[edit] Origin

The word honky as a term for whites derives from bohunk and hunky. In the early 1900's, these were derogatory terms for Bohemian, Hungarian, and Polish immigrants. According to Robert Hendrickson, author of the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, Black workers in Chicago meat-packing plants picked up the term from white workers and began applying it indiscriminately to all Caucasians.

Honky was later adopted as a pejorative meaning white in 1967 by black militants within SNCC seeking a rebuttal for the term nigger. They settled on a familiar word they felt was disparaging to certain Americans of European descent; hunkie meaning an American of Slavic or Hungarian descent.^[1][2]

The word 'honkie' was also used in the early to mid 1900's to describe a rich, white man searching for a black hooker. White men would be terrified to enter the actual ghettos so they would honk their horns where they felt safe. Since only rich people drove cars then, black prostitutes knew a honking horn meant a rich payday. Therefore, the word 'honkie' came to fruition.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Folk etymologies

These are some other folk etymologies for the term honky:

• From New York City taxi drivers, who have a reputation for honking their horns excessively.
• Derived from Yankee, a term used in the southern U.S. to describe people from the northern U.S.^{[citation needed]}
• Resembles the Wolof word honq meaning pink or pale.^{[citation needed]}

On the TV show The Jeffersons, George Jefferson regularly referred to white people as honkies. This usage (while negatively affecting the later syndication of the show to some degree) added a familiar, less offensive tone to the word, which caused some acceptance of the term when used in the appropriate company. Though this is not to say that it made the word completely neutral.

[edit] See also

• Cracker
• Honky tonk
• Gaijin
• Gringo
• Haole
• Whitey
• Nigger
• Blonkie
• The Jeffersons
• Mzungu
• Farang

[edit] Bibliography

• Associated Press. "Rap Brown Claims Riots LBJ's Fault". Associated Press (Washington D.C.) wire service report, June 28, 1967.
• Chamberlain, John. "'Carmichael Specializes in Hate,' A Contrast to George Schuyler". New York: King Features Syndicate (newspaper column), June 1, 1967.