Honky can't hurt me
I heard a word I haven't heard in a while yesterday. The word was honky and it was being spoken by an older person to a younger person and I got the idea that the person being addressed had no clue as to it's meaning or context.I found it all vastly amusing to see a person get all offended from a standpoint of ignorance. This person didn't know what was being said and was only reading the expression and tone of the one speaking.
Honky, much like buckra is a derogatory term directed toward white people by black people and is one of those mean spirited if not totally amusing epithets predominantly heard in the United States.
Some of us intimidate others to the point that individuals are inclined to keep these terms to themselves lest they incur the wrath of someone able and liable to inflict sufficient violence as a consequence ...
I, for one am a person to whom you don't cast many in the way of these terms because I am likely to pound you into the ground with one of the many hickory mattock handles I maintain in various corners of my home and automobile — or worse.
 |
Be all of this as it may, I typically find these names amusing and don't really get riled over them in any social situation ... nor do I view them as particularly awkward or provoking.
It's just one of those things a people do to one another and they remind me of the early 1970's book Games People Play by Eric Berne. However, the game would be a new one in the context of that work.
If you are one of those who call names it's a parameter with which I can certainly deal. Just be wary of your company when you use provoking language lest you find yourself in some uncomfortable hypthetical situation secondary to letting your alligator mouth outdo your hummingbird ass.
See also:
Remembering Buckra