1. Etymology
    Hungarian  Ukrainian  Wolof  Other 

2. Notable uses

3. Use in music and entertainment

4. Use in television and film

5. See also

6. References

Honky (also spelled honkie or sometimes honkey) is a derogatory term for white people, predominantly heard in the United States. The first recorded use of "honky" in this context may date back to 1946, although the use of "honky-tonk" occurred in films well before that time.^[1] The exact origins of the word are generally unknown and postulations about the subject vary.

Etymology

The exact origins of the word are generally unknown and postulations about the subject vary.

Hungarian

Honky may be a variant of hunky, which was a derivative of Bohunk, a slur for various Slavic and Hungarian immigrants who moved to America from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the early 1900s.^[2]

Ukrainian

It may also be a familiar short form for {{lang-uk|Гончаренко}} (Honcharenko), a common Ukrainian last name.^[3]

Wolof

Honky may also derive from the term "xonq nopp" which, in the West African language Wolof, literally means "red-eared person". The term may have originated with Wolof-speaking people brought to the U.S.^[4] It has been used by black Americans as a pejorative for white people.^[5]

Other

The phrase honky-tonk refers to a particular type of country music, most commonly provided at bars for its patrons, or more commonly, may even refer to the bar itself.^[6]

Honky may have come from coal miners in Oak Hill, West Virginia. The miners were segregated; blacks in one section, Anglo-whites in another. Foreigners who could not speak English, mostly whites, were separated from both groups into an area known as "Hunk Hill". These male laborers were known as "Hunkies".^[7]

A folk etymology is that it is from white people honking their car horns a lot to get people's attention and perhaps as a metaphor for liberal whites who make a lot of noise (honking) but do not do anything.^[8]

The term may have begun in the meat packing plants of Chicago. According to Robert Hendrickson, author of the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, black workers in Chicago meatpacking plants picked up the term from white workers and began applying it indiscriminately to all whites.^[9]

Notable uses

"Father of the Blues" W.C. Handy wrote of "Negroes and hunkies" in his autobiography.^[12]

Use in music and entertainment

Country musicians such as David Allen Coe and other successful artists have used the words honky and honky-tonk in popular songs such as: "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" (Kitty Wells), "Honky Tonk Women" (The Rolling Stones), "Honky Cat" (Elton John), "Honky Tonk Blues" (Hank Williams), "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow" (Alan Jackson), "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" (Loretta Lynn), "Just Another Honky" (Faces) and "Honky Tonk Man" (Johnny Horton).

The phrase "Honky Tonk Man" has also been used for popular culture purposes including The Honky Tonk Man (a ring name and persona for professional wrestler Roy Wayne Farris) and Honky Tonk Man (an album by innovating country rock musician Steve Young).

Other uses of honky in music may refer to Honky (an album by Melvins), Honky Reduction (an album by Agoraphobic Nosebleed), The Chicago Honky (a style of polka music), MC Honky (DJ stage persona), Honky Château (an album by Elton John meaning "white house"), Talkin' Honky Blues (an album by Buck 65) and Honky (an album by Keith Emerson). Honky's Ladder is a 1996 EP by The Afghan Whigs.

The uncensored version of the 1976 disco/funk hit "Play That Funky Music", by Wild Cherry, uses "honky" in the final chorus of the song.^[13]

"Brain Damage", a song by the rapper Eminem, uses the line "He looked at me and said, "You gonna die honkey!"".

The 2012 rap song "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis uses the line "The people like 'Damn, that's a cold ass honky!'" to refer to Macklemore who is white.

Use in television and film

In film, there were some movies using "honky" without any derogatory connotation. Honky Tonk is a 1929 American musical film starring Sophie Tucker. And Honky Tonk is also a 1941 black-and-white Western film starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner.

In the 1958 movie The Defiant Ones, Tony Curtis' character John "Joker" Jackson refers to himself as "a honky".

Honky is a 1971 movie based on an interracial relationship, starring Brenda Sykes as Sheila Smith and John Neilson as Wayne "Honky" Devine. Honky Tonk is also a 1974 Western film starring Richard Crenna and Margot Kidder. Additionally, Honkytonk Man is a 1982 drama film set in the Great Depression. Clint Eastwood, who produced and directed the film, stars in the film with his son, Kyle Eastwood.

In the 1973 James Bond movie Live and Let Die, Bond is referred to as "the honky" on three occasions when captured by exclusively black adversaries.

In a sketch on Saturday Night Live (SNL), Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor used both nigger (Chase) and honky (Pryor) in reference to one another during a "racist word association interview".^[14] During this period, Steve Martin (as musical guest and stand-up regular on SNL) performed a rendition of "King Tut" which contained the word honky in its lyrics.

In the movie National Lampoon's Vacation when the Griswolds visit East St. Louis, a local gang removes the wheel covers and write "Honky Lips" in black paint on the right side of the vehicle.

On the TV series The Jeffersons, George Jefferson regularly referred to a white person as a honky (or whitey) as did Redd Foxx on Sanford and Son. This word would later be popularized in episodes of Mork & Mindy by Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters.

The neighbor on the British sitcom Love Thy Neighbour, played by Rudolph Walker, would often refer to his bigoted white neighbor (Jack Smethurst) as "honky". In the Family Guy episode "Brian Sings and Swings", Peter Griffin uses the word to try to get out of jury duty.

These and other shows, as exemplified by the controversial All in the Family, attempted to expose racism and prejudice as an issue in society using the subversive weapon of humor. However, the effect that this theme had on television created both negative and positive criticism and the use of anti-racist messages actually escalates the use of racial slurs.^[15] The presence of higher education may countermand this effect.^[16]

In Season 2, Episode 1 of Da Ali G Show ("Law"), Ali G uses the term to refer to a white male while radioing the dispatcher at the Philadelphia Police Academy, while he uses the term "brother" to refer to a black person, despite being white himself.

On the TV series Barney Miller, Season 5, Episode 8, "Loan Shark", Arthur Dietrich gives an etymology of the word "honky", claiming it was "coined by blacks in the 1950s in reference to the nasal tone of Caucasians".^[17]

One of the Harlem Globetrotters refers to the robot Bender as "silver honky" in the episode "Time Keeps On Slippin'" of the cartoon series Futurama.

The animated television series Black Dynamite extensively uses the word "honky" as reference to white people, especially the Man. In Episode 4 of Season 1, 10-year-old Black Dynamite is competing in a spelling bee, when he is asked to spell the word "white" he spells it out as "H-O-N-K-Y". In Episode 8 of Season 1, a giant albino ape is referred to as "Honky Kong".

See also

• Cracker
• Hillbilly
• List of ethnic slurs
• Redneck
• Whitey (slang)

References

• With Billie in Mind
• With Bob and David
• With Bob & David
• With Chinese characteristics
• With Chronos' Permit
• With Cobham to the Cape
• WithConfidence
• With Confidence band
• With Confidence (band)
• With County, Virginia
• With Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo
• Withdean and Westdene Woods
• With Death on Your Back
• With Doom We Come
• Withdrawal Agreement
• Withdrawal agreement
• Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill
• Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU
• Withdrawal bleedings
• Withdrawal from the Eurozone
• Withdrawal of application for admission
• Withdrawal of Greenland from the EC
• Withdrawal of Greenland from the European Communities
• Withdrawal of Greenland from the European Community
• Withdrawal of Greenland from the European Economic Community