Eyeheart Pumpkin
August 13th 2004, 12:19 PM
A few of us were discussing slang terms over at Poli-sci, and I didn't want to completely hijack the thread, so I thought I'd move the topic here.
To recap:
"Honky" -- I saw a newscast a few years ago that gave the origins of this term. It was apparently evolved from the term "Hungies," which was a disparaging term that people used for Hungarian immigrants a century or two ago.
"Hick" -- I'm not sure about this one, but on my weekly drives thru the Ozarks, I see a lot of billboard signs along I-44 advertising so-and-so's "hick" restaurant. When one of them read "hick barbeque," it started to make sense. Hickory is a commonly used firewood and smoke-flavor additive throughout the south and midwest. Could be that it comes from that, maybe?
If you know other slang terms and suspect you know their origins, post them here.
Edit: a new one -- Ozarks. Speaking of the Ozarks (and I know, it's not a slang, really, just a mispelling). I was driving through Kimberling City one day (next to Branson), and saw a billboard for Aux Arcs Realty. It occured to me that "aux arcs" is pronounced Ozarks, when you include the liaison, and literally means "in the hills." The Ozarks, of course, are very hilly and mountainous, not to mention that many of the towns and areas in this part of the country have French origins (Missouri and some of the surrounding states were bought from France in the Louisiana Purchase, after all), so it makes sense that that's probably where the name comes from.
To recap:
"Honky" -- I saw a newscast a few years ago that gave the origins of this term. It was apparently evolved from the term "Hungies," which was a disparaging term that people used for Hungarian immigrants a century or two ago.
"Hick" -- I'm not sure about this one, but on my weekly drives thru the Ozarks, I see a lot of billboard signs along I-44 advertising so-and-so's "hick" restaurant. When one of them read "hick barbeque," it started to make sense. Hickory is a commonly used firewood and smoke-flavor additive throughout the south and midwest. Could be that it comes from that, maybe?
If you know other slang terms and suspect you know their origins, post them here.
Edit: a new one -- Ozarks. Speaking of the Ozarks (and I know, it's not a slang, really, just a mispelling). I was driving through Kimberling City one day (next to Branson), and saw a billboard for Aux Arcs Realty. It occured to me that "aux arcs" is pronounced Ozarks, when you include the liaison, and literally means "in the hills." The Ozarks, of course, are very hilly and mountainous, not to mention that many of the towns and areas in this part of the country have French origins (Missouri and some of the surrounding states were bought from France in the Louisiana Purchase, after all), so it makes sense that that's probably where the name comes from.