honyock

Meaning

Noun

• A person (especially a farmer) of relatively recent Central or Eastern European peasant extraction.
• A person who is foolish, stupid, oafish, wild, impetuous, or stubborn.

Related

Similar words

• homesteader, hayseed, clodhopper, dirt farmer, yokel, or hick
• yahoo, oaf, or lout
• rube, simpleton, ignoramus, or know-nothing

Origin

• Historically, honyock referred to immigrant homesteaders "stubbornly" farming "hardscrabble" or "hardpan" land considered better suited to livestock ranching.
• The first recorded usage in print appeared before 1860. Usage of the word peaked around 1927, and subsequently fell into relative disuse by 1980.
• Multiple possible origins of this word have been suggested:
• ** Portmanteau word from Hun/Hungarian and the ethnic slur Polack.
• ** Derivation of the German compound word "Honigjäger," meaning honey chaser; A reference to pursuing "sweet" opportunities and inevitably getting "stung" by unanticipated but predictable consequences.
• ** Derivation of the Hungarian adjective "hanyag," and its' multiple definitions and negative connotations such as careless, sloppy, slothful, and slow.