Hunkie (1906)
Dave Wilton
dave at WILTON.NET
Mon Jul 3 20:08:27 UTC 2006
HDAS has 1909.
Chicago Daily Tribune, 14 May 1906, p.1:
"STEEL MILL CITY LOCKS OUT POLICE
"Accidents in Illinois Company Plant Are Known Officially Only When the
'Dead Wagon' Is Wanted
"HOSPITAL IS A MYSTERY
"Between Railroad Tracks and Great Furnaces It Stands a Terror to the Army
of 'Hunkies.'"
"Hun, Pole, Austrian, Bulgarian, Bohemian--the 'Hunkies' of Illinois Steel
colloquialism--indifferent to pain of shattered, burned, mangled body grow
frantic as the stretcher bearers near this fortress hospital [...] South
Chicago distinctly doesn't like the 'Hunkie.' [...] A 'Hunkie' who has been
'hunked' in Illinois Steel makes a lot of strictly corporation trouble."
I'm not clear on what the verb "hunk" is supposed to mean. It may mean being
injured on the job.
--Dave Wilton
dave at wilton.net
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