Talk:Honky

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Articles for deletion This article was nominated for deletion on July 15, 2005. The result of the discussion was keep.

where did it come from? yes, i know, from "hunkie", but what does that mean? - Omegatron 02:30, Dec 29, 2004 (UTC)

Shouldn't a note be made that this is perhaps politically incorrect, rather than argueable "carries little derisive weight"? nobs

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[edit] coal miners

I have noticed that the contributors to the Wikipedia are always primed and anxious to insert the term "African Americans" into as many articles as possible.

In Western Pennsylvania (U.S.A.), the immigrants from Europe use the term Honkey to belittle one-another, casually. Obviously, the immigrants from Europe know the derivation of the mildly pejorative term.

I had heard the term Honkey prior to 1950, which is about 20 years before the creation of the term "African Americans." I don't know who created the term "African Americans," but I do know that it was non-existent prior to 1960. "Hunky" is a far older term which has no connection with "African American."

A large Webster's dictionary copyrighted in 1951 defines Hunky this way: Hunk'y - (noun) - A foreigner; a laborer (Slang). (The first edition of that dictionary had been copyrighted in 1904). The word "African" is defined as "A native of Africa." There is no mention of "African American." "African American" was completely undreampt of in 1951.

Coal miners and similar wielders of shovels and picks are called "hunkies." The word is not an inflammatory word. It never leads to fights between two people. The word carries a message, which is: "you are no better than me."

I live in the land of Hunkies. 68.162.182.113 15:22, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

G. & C. MERRIAM COMPANY of Springfield, Massachusetts produced the Fifth Edition of Webster's Collegiate Dictionary in 1942, with many entries. The copyright date is 1936. Based on Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, copyright 1934. Previous Editions were copyrighted in 1916, 1925, and 1931. Made in the U.S.A. G. O. Houghton and Company, Electrotypers, Printers, and Binders. The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The word hunky-dory is a colloquialism that means: "Quite to one's content; comfortably nice." I estimate that it has been in use for more than 70 years amongst the coal miners of Western Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

The dictionary produced in 1942 defines hunk'y as being either an adjective or a noun. Both words are Slang. U.S.

The adjective means: "All right; in a good condition; also, even; square."

Pronounced hŭngk'ĭ the NOUN means: "A foreign-born laborer, usually unskilled, especially a Hungarian or Yugoslav."

Self-delusional people tend to believe that there is a connection to "African Americans" (whomever THEY are), but the self-delusional people are ninnies and nincompoops.

I live in the land of Hunkies. 68.162.182.113 19:18, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] molehill

I suspect that the individuals who transmit the term "African Americans" into this Wikipedia are out to "make a mountain out of a molehill."

Hunky is a word that never generates fighting amongst the Eastern European immigrants whom I have heard speak the word. The term is not employed maliciously. It does not mean "a white man."

About ten years ago, in a convenience store, one older female remarked: "Just wait 'til my hunky comes out in me." She was peeved about something or other.

Forget the "African American" rhetoric, or malarkey. 68.162.182.113 01:23, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

Here is an alternate spelling for Navajo: phełilishgai

[edit] NPOV Edit.

Removed the blatant opinion contained in the article that the anti-white term "Honkey" is "far less offensive" than the anti-black term "nigger".

In fact, as "honkey" is considered the chief anti-white racial slur in the United States, it is probably more of a counterpart to "nigger" than it is any more/less offensive.

Let's not play PC games here, guys. Whites can be just as offended by racial slurs aimed at their direction as blacks, Asians, or any other ethnic group.

We minorities have had a meeting and we now deem "cracker" to be the chief anti-white slur in the United States. A poll was taken and none of us had used "honky" in at least 25 years. So please make all the necessary changes in your schedule to acommodate this. Thank you. MrBlondNYC 10:55, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] food

Hunky can also refer to food. My mom said that she was having people over for some good hunky food for new years. She was refering to Slovak food in Youngstown, OH

[edit] Candians and others: another Group (Ukrainian)?

Honkey: I've only heard this term used as a derogatory term for Ukrainians or those with Ukrainian ancestry. Even though it was always used in a derogatory way, sometimes no harm intended (i.e. a "racist" joke when you know the person is not racist), and no offense was taken. I heard this term in rural Manitoba, Canada where a lot of the population had European roots and Native Indian roots (there were several native reserves in the area). I'd add the Ukrainian definition in the list, but I don't know if this definition was specific to my region. Anyone else heard the term used in this context? Where have you heard it being used? I am wondering if it is a "Canadian" or "Manitoban" thing, basically. --geekyßroad 08:23, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Page move: "honkey" -> "honky"

In accordance with Wikipedia:Naming conventions I moved this page from "honkey" to "honky". The new name is what an English speaker would be more likely to look it up under and link to. Google suggests "honky" is you enter "honkey", the new spelling has WAY more hits. Also "honky tonk" is spelled without the "e", both in society and on Wikipedia. --Frank Lofaro Jr. 06:22, 27 March 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Cite?

"9. A cross betweeen a horse and a donkey, the first breed of which originates from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Following a row over a honkey breeding competition betweeen rival homesteads in 1907 in Troutdale, Grayson County (VA), the male and female honkey frontrunners were released in the wild as a compromise. The honkies bred offspring, the descendants of which can be spotted on the balds of Mt. Rogers Recreational Park today."

This looks like it might be a joke. I didn't see any supporting evidence for this with a very quick Google search. If there's a solid cite for this, please put it back in the main article, along with the cite.

See also Mule. -- 201.51.166.124 19:12, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Scholarly etymologies vs. folk etymologies

I have found a reliable cite only for the etymology saying that "hunky" was a synonym for Eastern Europeans later applied to all whites. I have moved this into the "origins" sections. The others appear to be uncited folk etymologies. I have moved them into their own section and added the {{fact}} template so that we are not presenting uncited material as fact. The Crow 15:27, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Hendrickson's Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins is not considered authoritative or reliable. The Library Journal, among others, calls it "a collection of stories, speculative though entertaining" (see the Library Journal's review at Amazon.com). OneMansOpinion 01:16, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
Be that as it may, it's a published primary source; the other supposed etymologies in this article have nothing backing them so far. The Crow 03:44, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
Here's a couple of other citations I found: Historical Dictionary of American Slang (cited in wordorigins.org), Online Etymology Dictionary
Per the Historical Dictionary of American Slang, the first use of the spelling honky was in a 1949 book, Really The Blues, which was an autobiograhical account of Mezz Mezzrow's life. Mezzrow was a self-described white Jewish jazzman. It's unclear from the cited usage ("Man, I'm down with it, stickin' like a honky.") exactly what he meant, but it doesn't sound pejoritive—although it may be used self-depreciatingly. Do you know what he meant? Also, do you have a source for when honky was first unequivocally used as a pejoritive term by blacks to mean generically white? OneMansOpinion 15:22, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
After a quick search, the first time I found honky used as a pejoritive term for whites in print was in a John Chamberlain editorial from June 1, 1967—"Carmichael specializes in hate. He objects, quite rightly, to those who use the term 'nigger.' Then he turns around and calls policemen 'honkies,' making a play on the derisive term that outraged Hungarian immigrants generations ago." Chamberlain, a well known writer of the era, seems to think this use originated with Stokley Carmchael and the SNCC. I found it again a few months later spelled honkey. It may have been used previously but I don't have the resources to find it. OneMansOpinion 18:31, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
After some reflection, my thoughts are that John Chamberlain's (short bio from newsbios.com) stature and respect as a writer and journalist is such that the referenced editorial for his syndicated column with King Features could be used as a citation dating the use from 1967 until or unless a better source surfaces. OneMansOpinion 19:40, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Anecdotal Etymologies

In the 1972 made-for-TV movie "If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band", one of the "street-wise" characters explains the origin of the word to another more naive character by saving that white men looking for prostitutes drive up and down the streets at night hoking their horns. The character cites no source so, considering the accuracy of TV, this etymology is very suspect.

[edit] Racial epithet!?

It's okay, we can call it a racial slur here without being accused to being a racist ourselves. I've worded the article intro the same as on nigger.82.163.182.119 10:37, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hong Kongers are Jews?

I removed this from the article. It seemed utterly random. Completely unrelated to the article, as far as I can see...

""Honky" is akin to the term "Jew" in America. Coincidentally Hongkongers are urbanites, as opposed to the other Chinese who are more rural, kind of like Jews in America who concentrates in big cities too. Some misguided scholars have even called Chinese "Jews of the East", which is true only in the minds of the said scholars because they only hang out in Hong Kong, and assumed that all Chinese are like Hongkongers."

Furius 05:12, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Honky as descriptive of white speech

Jimmy Walker in an episode of Good Times and Chris Rock in concert mentioned that the term derives from the nasal quality of the speech of typical white people. I'll have to do a source search. Alatari (talk) 04:01, 25 February 2008 (UTC)