# Honky **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honky/324113 "2005-09-29T23:03:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mike\_Roberts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mike\_Roberts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Roberts)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honky/324113/1 "2005-09-29T23:03:24Z")
Just wondering if the name given to White Folks (Honky) was really assigned to them by Colored Folks because of the turn of the century manner in which many of the White Folks would use the car horn (Honking) to signal laborors instead of getting out of the car and coming to the door. Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honky/324113/2 "2005-09-29T23:09:17Z")
I don’t know. I remember a 70s Doonesbury comic strip refering to this, but primarily, the term I recall the most is “Cracker”. What a minute, didn’t the perfect master comment on [this](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_257b.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honky/324113/3 "2005-09-29T23:11:21Z")
[I know of this great website where people write in and this guy answers them.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_257b.html). I wish this place was more like that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honky/324113/4 "2005-09-29T23:11:44Z")
> [@Mike Roberts](#): > > Just wondering if the name given to White Folks (Honky) was really assigned to them by Colored Folks because of the turn of the century manner in which many of the White Folks would use the car horn (Honking) to signal laborors instead of getting out of the car and coming to the door. Just curious. Apparently [not](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_257b.html). ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honky/324113/5 "2005-09-29T23:18:21Z")
What about _peckerwood_? I always wondered how that term relates to something perjorative about caucasians. ---
**Author:** ![Kaotic\_Newtral](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@Kaotic\_Newtral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaotic_Newtral)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honky/324113/6 "2005-09-29T23:21:16Z")
Gesundheit! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honky/324113/7 "2005-09-30T14:32:51Z")
I’ve heard (albeit an apocryphal tale from a history teacher) that the term came from India during the time of British empire. “Honk” is English slang for “bad smell”, and to the native Indians the colonial British smelt really bad, hence the wonderfully disrespectful “honky”. If that isn’t true, it should be. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honky/324113/8 "2005-09-30T16:21:49Z")
> [@Fridgemagnet](#): > > “Honk” is English slang for “bad smell”, and to the native Indians the colonial British smelt really bad, hence the wonderfully disrespectful “honky”. So they adopted a slang term not from their language, but from a foreign one? ---
**Author:** ![don\_Jaime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b4bc9f/32.png) [@don\_Jaime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_Jaime)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honky/324113/9 "2005-10-01T05:24:42Z")
_Honky_ derives from _bohunk_ and ultimately from _Bohemian_. Originally, a “honky” was ethnic Czech. The only time I’ve heard it used this way was in a documentary about working conditions at the Ford Motor Company’s plants in Detroit. There is still a “honky” style of polka music, as opposed to Polish-style polka.