Hinky

[Jonathon Green]

> You'll find this in the HDAS with a first citation of 1956. Also cf.
> _hincty_ in HDAS with a first example (in this sense) of 1929 (the sense
> 'snobbish; haughty' is attested from 1924); perhaps these are the
> same word.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
> OED
>

As noted above, I don't think they are the same word. _Hinky_ as in
'dubious, suspicious, out of kilter,' etc. comes from Scots. _hink_, a
hesitation, a misgiving; this can indeed have the synonym _hincty_; _hincty_
as in 'snobbish, haughty', and generally seen as African-American, has a
different eymology, which, while debatable and as yet unproven, may have a
link to Lincolnshire (UK) dial. _hinch_, meanness, miserliness. Another
suggestion, albeit unlikely, is an elision of _handkerchief-head_.

Jonathon Green