honcho > honchas

[Michael T. Wescoat]

There is a cute example of a coinage based on a folk etymology in the
Doonesbury strip for 30 Jan. 07.

[Two female engineering students are sitting in front of a robot
which they cannot get to work as intended] We're engineering
*honchas*, and the thing just sits there mocking us!

The word _honchas_ appears to be a derivative of _honcho_, based on
the assumption that the word is a borrowing from Spanish; the a -> o
substitution would then be in accord with the regular pattern in
Spanish gender marking.  The only trouble is _honcho_ comes from
Japanese. The OED provides this citation from an unimpeachable
source: "1955 Amer. Speech XXX. 118 Honcho. 1. n. A man in charge.
(This is a Japanese word translated roughly as ‘Chief officer’,
brought back from Japan by fliers stationed there during the
occupation and during the Korean fighting...)."

FWIW, the 'man' part of the above definition is probably not an
inherent part of the meaning of the Japanese expression.  The word is
a compound of _han_ 'squad' (anglicized in the spelling to <hon>) and
_cho:_ 'leader' (Kenkyusha's New Japanese English Dictionary). It is
my belief (corrections welcome) that compounds with _cho:_ apply to
men or women.  (Good news: no need to mark gender.)

FWIW, being disconnected from its 'squad leader' source may have
helped along semantic drift, so that _honcho_ now appears to have
'hot shot' as one of its senses.

Michael T. Wescoat

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