The stink/The stank

[Jonathan Lighter]

Well, they are the *same* word, but for people who reserve the differing pronunciations for specific meanings - or parts of speech - they're inching toward becoming different dictionary entries. Different "words."

Not quite the same, since the difference arose in spelling rather than pronuciation, but comparable in principle, are "complete" and "compleat," which now generally have separate dictionary entries, "compleat" (largely from allusions to Izaak Walton) now means "consummate" only and is no longer just a variant spelling of "complete."

JL
"Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Mullins, Bill"
Subject: Re: The stink/The stank
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is the verb really a different word than "stink", not just a different
pronounciation?
(I agree that the noun "stank" has a separate meaning from the noun
"stink")

I've heard "thank" for "think", and back when MTV still played music
videos, around
the time of John Cougar Mellencamp's (we called him John Cougar
Melonhead) "Little
Pink Houses", the network had a promotion where they gave someone a pink
house, but
it had to be painted. I remember clearly Mellencamp saying "Paint thuh
muther pank."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 8:09 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: The stink/The stank
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: The stink/The stank
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> I *do* agree with you. Oh. Now I see your point. The quote
> from Hank should read "stink." No, maybe I'm still not
> getting your point. I could say "it stanks," if that fitted
> in with what the people around me said and I didn't want to
> draw attention to myself by speaking a different subdialect.
> But the people around me use "stinks" and so do I. So, in
> what sense would this be impossible for any other speakers?
> It's not as though the string -ank- is foreign to English. I
> once had a chat with an Englishman who was unable to
> pronounce "Wanda" in isolation so that it could be
> distinguished from "wander" spoken in isolation. Or do you
> mean that "it stanks" would be impossible to the extent that,
> in some sense, no English speaker could say "it rans" or "it
> stoods" or "it wents"? Then I was right. I *do* agree with you.
> But, for people speaking a suddialect in which "stink" and
> "stank" fall together as "stank," "it stanks" would be just
> ordinary English speech, with nothing special or peculiar
> about it at all.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Jan 20, 2005, at 6:28 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> > Subject: Re: The stink/The stank
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -
> > --------
> >
> > I'd be inclined to agree, except that for many speakers (presumably
> > Hank Hill is one), the verbal " *It stanks " would be impossible.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > Wilson Gray wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Wilson Gray
> > Subject: The stink/The stank
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -
> > --------
> >
> > About a year ago, I heard the character, Hank Hill, of the animated
> > cartoon, "King of The Hill," which is set in Texas, say,
> "You got the
> > stank on you and everybody can smell it." It's been about
> sixty years
> > since I've anyone use this turn of phrase, which means,
> "everybody can
> > tell that you're the responsible party, etc."
> >
> > Then, on Comedy Central a while ago, on a show called "Country
> > Comedians" or some such, one person says to another, "Go
> 'hayid. Put
> > yo' stank(sic) on it," which, from context, meant, "Put
> your mark (of
> > ownership, etc.) on it."
> >
> > In both cases, the speakers were white, FWIW.
> >
> > So, I was moved to see what Google had to say. It showed that both
> > spellings, "stink" and "stank," are in use. But, whatever the
> > spelling, both of the meanings above are rare. In some cases,
> > "stink/stank" is used to replace "funk" in the sense of "foul,
> > disgusting odor." In other cases, it's used to mean "the
> word, the inside dope, the skinny,"
> > leading to puns like, "The stink on anal glands." In still other
> > cases, "put the stink/stank on" is used to mean "jinx, foul
> up," etc.
> > A closer reading of the data may yield other meanings.
> >
> > IMO, there's only one word, "stink," with the spelling following
> > whichever pronunciation is hip or boss in a given area.
> >
> > -Wilson Gray
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
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> >
>


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