Hunkie (1906)

[Wilson Gray]

Also interesting is the subhead,

Accidents ... are known officially _only_ when the "dead wagon" is wanted

as opposed to the contemporary

Accidents ... are _only_ known officially when the "dead wagon" is wanted.

-Wilson

On 7/3/06, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Hunkie (1906)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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