# What Is A Huckabee? (Huckaby?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2007, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575 "2007-08-31T03:14:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575/1 "2007-08-31T03:14:36Z")
Ok, so John Madden was talking about a huckabee the other night, claiming it is some sort of contorted football stance, as seen in old photos. So where does it come from and why do it? ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575/2 "2007-08-31T04:54:02Z")
The term he was using was “huckabuck”. The fifth picture in [this](http://www.packers.com/multimedia/photo_galleries/hall_of_famers/canadeo_tony/) gallery of Packers Hall of Fame running back Tony Canadeo has a representative huckabuck. It’s not one particular pose, but a generic range poses to represent football action done during media days and the like in the days when camera and film limitations made real action photography of football difficult. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575/3 "2007-08-31T13:25:26Z")
**fiddlesticks** is correct, but the term is actually “huck 'n buck.” And of course, there is [at least one website](http://deuceofclubs.com/hucknbuck/hucknbuck.htm) dedicated to the subject, with plenty of pictures and even an article on the photographer who might have invented the pose. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575/4 "2007-09-02T15:49:13Z")
Ok, thanks folks. Good stuff. But where does the name originate? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575/5 "2007-09-02T16:06:47Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] Ok, thanks folks. Good stuff. But where does the name originate? [/QUOTE] And what is the purpose? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575/6 "2007-09-03T00:35:24Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] Ok, thanks folks. Good stuff. But where does the name originate? [/QUOTE] The link I posted above says that the term was coined by Jim Laughead, a proflific football photographer. It was used to describe a posed shot that was intended to look like an action shot (specifically, like the player was “hucking” and “bucking.”) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575/7 "2007-09-03T01:44:12Z")
While Laughead probably first originated/used the term to describe the pose of football players in the US, the phrase/term goes back to England. Using Google Book Search “huck buck” From 1892, a game from Sulfolk. > [@](#): > > In AR, v. 59, the rhyme is given- > Buck shee, buck shee buck, > How many fingers do I hold up ? > In Warwickshire they simply say “Buck, Buck,” etc. > In Suffolk " Huck-a-buck, huck-a-buck," etc. Now, can I show that Laughead coined his phrase to describe what he wanted football players to do, for his pictures? Nope. All I wanted to do was show that there was a phrase, “huck-a-buck” in existance before he used the somewhat similar words. Quite often, things that are similar have no relationship to each other. That may be the case here. I’ll keep searching. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575/8 "2007-09-03T15:34:14Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] All I wanted to do was show that there was a phrase, “huck-a-buck” in existance before he used the somewhat similar words. [/QUOTE] The phrase in question is “huck 'n buck,” a colloquial shortening of “hucking and bucking.” ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575/9 "2007-09-03T15:45:20Z")
And given your username, I presume I don’t have to alert you to the repeated use of the phrase “huck and buck” in a certain 19th century adventure novel… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575/10 "2007-09-03T22:17:28Z")
[QUOTE=anson2995] And given your username, I presume I don’t have to alert you to the repeated use of the phrase “huck and buck” in a certain 19th century adventure novel… 😉 [/QUOTE] Nope. I had to exclude ‘Finn’ and ‘Twain’ from all searches. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-huckabee-huckaby/417575/11 "2007-09-03T22:31:11Z")
Kinda looks like [this thing.](http://www.heisman.com/)