Honky
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Honky, Honkey or Honkie is a predominantly American pejorative racial slur for white people, often applied to males.
Honky is a corruption of hungy or hunky, a term which originated in the stockyards and slaughterhouses of Chicago. The term may derive from "Bohunk" (Bohemian-Hungarian), which was used to refer to central Europeans. Black workers and Hungarian workers were two of the largest ethnic groups in the Chicago meat industry. Racial and ethnic tension between the two groups led Black workers to begin calling Hungarian workers, and those perceived as Hungarian workers, hunky, perhaps in retaliation for the familiar racist epithets to which black workers were subject. The corruption 'honky' emerged shortly thereafter.
Honky was later adopted as a pejorative 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]
In Australasia and Singapore, a person of Hong Kong origin is categorised as a Hongky or "Hongkie", a term that some people of Hong Kong take offense at. They prefer to be called Hongkongers (or Hongkongese). In fact several brochures from the Hong Kong Tourism Board make reference to this new term.
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.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Chamberlain, "'Carmichael Specializes in Hate,' A Contrast to George Schuyler": "Carmichael [Stokely 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."
- ^ Associated Press, "Rap Brown Claims Riots LBJ's Fault": "In the sidewalk session, he [H. Rap Brown] called President Johnson 'a mad wild dog' and a 'white honky cracker.' Honky is a term Brown applies to whites."
[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.
