Wonk
Richard Chambers
"There's some smart thinking in Cameron's simple vision of the Big
Society":-
"[...] Cameron did this by name-checking no fewer than 15 intellectuals and
thinkers -- some dead, some Labour, most American. Recently, Tory wonks,
orchestrated by Steve Hilton, strategy director, have been calling on
startled academics and asking them what they have been thinking lately
[...]".
I had never heard of a "wonk" before. The definition (but please do not
click on it immediately) is:-
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wonk (Not yet, please).
A little experiment:-
What I would like you to do, if like me you have never heard of "wonk"
before, is to reply with your own definition of the word, based on total
ignorance. Together with why you think that might be the meaning of the
word. Please do not reply if you already know the word. While you're at it,
you might like also to define "name-checking".
The object of the experiment is to determine how much we understand of the
latest buzz-words that are thrown at us.
My own contribution to this experiment will follow in a separate posting.
Richard Chambers Leeds UK.
Richard Chambers
----------------------------
My ignorant definitions:-
wonk = a maverick, a politician who does not toe the party line.
Rationale:- a wonky wheel is a wheel that is out of alignment with the
rest. Metaphorical.
"name-checking" = name-dropping. Trying to impress by referring to all the
"right" names.
Rationale:- None. That's just how it seems to me.
Richard Chambers Leeds UK.
Richard Chambers
-----------------------------------
A contribution from my wife:-
"wonk" = a spin-doctor.
Rationale:- Seems to be used in that context.
Richard Chambers Leeds UK.
aquachimp
<richard.chambers7_NoSp...@ntlworld.net> wrote:
> From page 2 of of the Sunday Times Supplement, 15 November, under the title
> "There's some smart thinking in Cameron's simple vision of the Big
> Society":-
>
> "[...] Cameron did this by name-checking no fewer than 15 intellectuals and
> thinkers -- some dead, some Labour, most American. Recently, Tory wonks,
> orchestrated by Steve Hilton, strategy director, have been calling on
> startled academics and asking them what they have been thinking lately
> [...]".
>
> I had never heard of a "wonk" before. The definition (but please do not
> click on it immediately) is:-
>
>
> A little experiment:-
> What I would like you to do, if like me you have never heard of "wonk"
> before, is to reply with your own definition of the word, based on total
> ignorance.
First I thought it a typo for "wanks" as in an abbriviation of "tory
wankers", but that didn't really fit the context. So i thought; "wags"
or talking heads.
I even wondered if it referred to Tory jaunts (get-togethers),
> Together with why you think that might be the meaning of the
> word. Please do not reply if you already know the word. While you're at it,
> you might like also to define "name-checking".
name dropping.
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
I'm already familiar with the word particularly in the AmPolitE phrase
"policy wonk".
The OED's first example of the phrase is from 25 years ago:
policy wonk n. slang (orig. U.S.) a person who takes an excessive
interest in minor details of policy; cf. WONK n.2 4.
1984 New Republic 29 Oct. 16/2 Mondale's passionate attachment to
the issue reflects his thralldom to the *policy wonks and wise men
of the Washington establishment.
wonk2
4. U.S. A disparaging term for a studious or hard-working person.
1962 Sports Illustrated 17 Dec. 21 A wonk, sometimes called a
�turkey� or a �lunch�, roughly corresponds to the �meatball� of a
decade ago.
1970 E. SEGAL Love Story 32 Who could Jenny be talking to that was
worth appropriating moments set aside for a date with me? Some
musical wonk?
1980 N.Y. Times Mag. 20 July 8 At Harvard the excessively studious
student is derided as a �wonk�, which Amy Berman, Harvard '79,
fancifully suggests may be �know� spelled backward. (In British
slang, �wonky� means �unsteady�.)
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
Django Cat
I was trying to makes this work as an acronym, on the lines of WAGS.
The 'k' is tricky, though...
DC
--
Don Phillipson
news:NImdneCUbpAcTprW...@brightview.co.uk...
> I had never heard of a "wonk" before. . . .
This term has been used in Canadian news media for at least
10 years, usually as "policy wonk," to characterize people whose main
professional activity is offering opinions (claiming some
expertise) on political topics, viz. much as pundit and commentator
used to be used. The source is probably high school slang, to
denigrate people who enjoy school work. There are thus city hall
wonks, federal-provincial relations wonks, United Nations wonks, and so on.
The term is deliberately ambiguous. The term implies criticism of
mere theoreticians, but Canadians have been for at least 50
years generally respectful of wonks. The notable precedent
is the Liberal party, in general disorder approx. 1960 (after
Conservatives under leader John Diefenbaker, won in 1958 an
unprecedented electoral triumph, with 200+ seats out of 260).
The party therefore organized in Kingston (the most academic city
in Canada) a Political Thinkers Conference to get from youngish policy
wonks (as distinct from experienced old politicians) new ideas of
how the party might reorganize to win power again. This became
an accepted tradition. When in doubt, political parties invite non-
members to tell them what to do.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Arfur Million
<richard.chambers7_NoSp...@ntlworld.net> wrote:
> From page 2 of of the Sunday Times Supplement, 15 November, under the title
> "There's some smart thinking in Cameron's simple vision of the Big
> Society":-
>
> "[...] Cameron did this by name-checking no fewer than 15 intellectuals and
> thinkers -- some dead, some Labour, most American. Recently, Tory wonks,
> orchestrated by Steve Hilton, strategy director, have been calling on
> startled academics and asking them what they have been thinking lately
> [...]".
>
> I had never heard of a "wonk" before. The definition (but please do not
> click on it immediately) is:-
>
>
> A little experiment:-
> What I would like you to do, if like me you have never heard of "wonk"
> before, is to reply with your own definition of the word, based on total
> ignorance. Together with why you think that might be the meaning of the
> word. Please do not reply if you already know the word. While you're at it,
> you might like also to define "name-checking".
>
> The object of the experiment is to determine how much we understand of the
> latest buzz-words that are thrown at us.
>
> My own contribution to this experiment will follow in a separate posting.
>
What a lovely word - I do hope it catches on, whatever it means. My
guesses:
wonk = a political researcher (or perhaps more generally market
researcher).
Rationale:- it's pretty much the only meaning I could make work,
especially for a team that has been "orchestrated". Whoever they are,
I wonder how they know when the academics are startled so that they
can call on them :-)
"name-checking" = checking up on names in the sense of important
people in their field (ie checking up on the people themselves, not
their names).
Rationale:- Again, I couldn't make much else work, but I wouldn't be
in the least surprised if both my attempts are completely off the
mark.
Regards,
Arfur
Django Cat
> The term is deliberately ambiguous. The term implies criticism of
> mere theoreticians, but Canadians have been for at least 50
> years generally respectful of wonks. The notable precedent
> is the Liberal party, in general disorder approx. 1960 (after
> Conservatives under leader John Diefenbaker,
I'd wondered how the wolf in Due South got his name... Was Mr
Diefenbaker especially... lupine?
DC
--
John Dean
>
> A little experiment:-
> What I would like you to do, if like me you have never heard of "wonk"
> before, is to reply with your own definition of the word, based on
> total ignorance. Together with why you think that might be the
> meaning of the word. Please do not reply if you already know the
> word.
I *shall* reply but only to introduce a sub-branch of the thread. I knew
'wonk', especially in the term 'policy wonk' and have done for a while. A
search thread at the Guardian shows they have used it 799 times over the
last few years which confirms my thought that it's been pretty common in
those places where they take an interest in the political classes.
Michael Quinion discourses at http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pol1.htm
and includes the tidbit that it was used in the film "Love Story" which
would have served to introduce it to millions of people in 1970.
--
John Dean
Oxford
LFS
Ah, I think the first time I encountered it was in am American novel at
about that time so it may have been in the book of "Love Story". I have
always been under the impression that it meant someone slightly boring
who knew a lot about a specific subject - a bit like a geek, I suppose -
and that it came from know backwards.
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
CDB
Garrett Wollman
Richard Chambers <richard.cham...@ntlworld.net> wrote:
>What I would like you to do, if like me you have never heard of "wonk"
>before, is to reply with your own definition of the word, based on total
>ignorance.
I of course can't answer this, since "wonk" is fairly well-known AmE.
Bill Clinton was described as one, approvingly, by journalists who
covered his first term.
>While you're at it, you might like also to define "name-checking".
I always assumed that this was derived from broadcasting jargon, where
a "time check" is a (usually obligatory) mention of the time by the
announcer. A name check is, by extension, a mention of a name,
usually in a context where acknowledgment would be expected. (Compare
"props", but distinguish "name drop" which implies that the invocation
of the name is intended to elevate the dropper's status.)
Test your understanding:
In her song "What Do You Hear in These Sounds?", Dar Williams writes
about listening to WBAI (99.5B New York, one of Pacifica's flagship
stations) when she was growing up in Chappaqua, New York, but she
never mentions it by name. Two people are mentioned by name in the
song: Jimmy Olson and Johnny Memphis, both jocks on her local AAA
station at the time she wrote the song, which was WRSI (95.9A
Greenfield), and who would almost certainly play the song when it was
released whether or not their names were mentioned. Name drop or name
check?
-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft
wol...@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program
Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption
my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993
Django Cat
Mmm, so my researches have since revealed.
DC
--
James Hogg
I cheated and immediately consulted the word in that indispensable
reference work, Roger's Profanisaurus, where it is defined thus:
A political researcher. Usually a young man with glasses and a wanker's tan.
The latter expression is italicised, to lead you the definition of that
term as:
Ghostly pallor effected by young men who spend far too much time alone
in their rooms with the curtains shut.
--
James
Django Cat
Ah. Olly in 'the Thick of it'?
DC
--
Robert Lieblich
I recall it from my college days, which dates it to no later than
1961. It meant pretty much what "nerd" now means -- someone very good
at some academic or scientific pursuit and so engrossed by it as to
lack many social graces. "Policy wonk" is a logical extension of that
usage, and I understood it the first time I encountered it.
Of course, I'm adhering to the rules and not looking up any published
definitions, so I may be decades out of date (not for the first time).
--
Bob Lieblich
A but of a wonk in his own time
Richard Chambers
The only "rule", on the precarious assumption that I am entitled to make any
rule at all, is that you do not look up the true meaning before you tell me
what you would, in total ignorance, have guessed the word to mean. In your
case, and others like you, this does not apply because you already had a
good idea what the word meant. The quickest way to look it up is to click on
the link in my original posting.
The interesting finding is that practically all the respondents from North
America already knew what it meant. Only a few of the British respondents
knew it. An interesting exception to Chambers's Law has occurred. This Law
states:-
"What happens today in America will happen in Britain, never more than 2
years later, and usually much sooner than that".
With American correspondents telling me that the word may have been in use
from as early as 1954, this is a remarkable exception to the Law.
Richard Chambers Leeds UK.
ke...@cam.ac.uk
Richard Chambers <richard.cham...@ntlworld.net> wrote:
>
>The interesting finding is that practically all the respondents from North
>America already knew what it meant. Only a few of the British respondents
>knew it. An interesting exception to Chambers's Law has occurred. This Law
>states:-
Just as a data point, I have been familiar with it for years, and I thought a
few other Brits had said the same (Laura, for one). Did you have
that many Brit respondents who didn't?
I bet the other Katy knew it.
Katy
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
I've been trying to remember whether "policy wonk" was used in _The West
Wing_. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't.
John Dean
A quick search of such transcripts as are at
http://communicationsoffice.tripod.com/index1.html
suggests it wasn't.
I, too, am surprised at Richard's assertion that only a few Brits knew it. I
thought the majority of Brit postings indicated we did, and an average use
in the Guardian of around twice a week ought to be a further indicator that
it's known here. And those Brits who *didn't* post may well have known it
but decided to play safe and follow Richard's 'no posting if you know'
policy.
--
John Dean
Oxford
John Holmes
> A little experiment:-
> What I would like you to do, if like me you have never heard of "wonk"
> before, is to reply with your own definition of the word, based on
> total ignorance. Together with why you think that might be the
> meaning of the word. Please do not reply if you already know the
> word. While you're at it, you might like also to define
> "name-checking".
These are my first impressions, without knowing the full context of the
article or looking anything up:
"wonk" - noun backformed from "wonky", something broken, dubious,
unreliable.
"name-checking" - looking up names in a directory or reference of some
sort.
--
Regards
John
for mail: my initials plus a u e
at tpg dot com dot au
Frank ess
Somone who is immersed in some aspect of a field, to the exclusion of
pretty much everything else.
"Policy wonks" may have gotten us into the sad shape we're in. Whiff
of chocolate here?
--
Frank ess
Peter Moylan
> A little experiment:-
> What I would like you to do, if like me you have never heard of
> "wonk" before, is to reply with your own definition of the word,
> based on total ignorance. Together with why you think that might be
> the meaning of the word.
I've known "policy wonk" for a number of years, but I've never looked up
its definition. The phrase usually appears, in my experience, at a time
when the government is announcing an abysmally stupid decision. From
this, I deduce that it refers to someone responsible for dreaming up
wonky policies.
> While you're at it, you might like also to define "name-checking".
I don't know this one, but I presume that it means nothing more
complicated than looking up names in a telephone directory or something
similar.
--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.
Nick
As I did. I'm not sure if, strictly, I know "wonk". I know "policy
wonk", but no other sort.
--
Online waterways route planner: http://canalplan.org.uk
development version: http://canalplan.eu
Amethyst Deceiver
I am not the other Katy, but I knew it. It get regular outings in the
Guardian.
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
wrote:
>Richard Chambers wrote:
>
>> A little experiment:-
>> What I would like you to do, if like me you have never heard of
>> "wonk" before, is to reply with your own definition of the word,
>> based on total ignorance. Together with why you think that might be
>> the meaning of the word.
>
>I've known "policy wonk" for a number of years, but I've never looked up
>its definition. The phrase usually appears, in my experience, at a time
>when the government is announcing an abysmally stupid decision. From
>this, I deduce that it refers to someone responsible for dreaming up
>wonky policies.
>
>> While you're at it, you might like also to define "name-checking".
>
>I don't know this one, but I presume that it means nothing more
>complicated than looking up names in a telephone directory or something
>similar.
That would be one meaning.
The other is (from OED):
A public mention or listing of the name of a person or thing, esp.
in acknowledgement of an individual contribution or for publicity
purposes; an acknowledgement by name.
I'd have guessed it to be American in origin, however, the first quote
in the OED is British:
1972 Daily Tel. 10 Nov. (Colour Suppl.) 7/2 It would be an exercise
hardly more valuable than..reading out �name-checks� to gratify the
vanity of listeners to record programmes.
That does not, of course, rule out an American origin.
Ildhund
> John Dean writes:
>>> ke...@cam.ac.uk wrote:
>>>> Richard Chambers wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> The interesting finding is that practically all the respondents from
>>>>> North America already knew what it meant. Only a few of the British
>>>>
>>>> Just as a data point, I have been familiar with it for years, and I
>>>> thought a few other Brits had said the same (Laura, for one). Did you
>>>> have that many Brit respondents who didn't?
>>>>
>>>> I bet the other Katy knew it.
>>>>
>> I, too, am surprised at Richard's assertion that only a few Brits knew
>> it. I thought the majority of Brit postings indicated we did, and an
>> average use in the Guardian of around twice a week ought to be a further
>> indicator that it's known here. And those Brits who *didn't* post may
>> well have known it but decided to play safe and follow Richard's 'no
>> posting if you know' policy.
>
> As I did. I'm not sure if, strictly, I know "wonk". I know "policy
> wonk", but no other sort.
I didn't respond because my English non-IT vocabulary fossilized in the
1960s and my vote would have been a rogue point on the plot. I couldn't
really spot anything meaningful in 'Tory wonk'[1].
As for name checking, I have learnt that 'check' is AmE for 'tick' when
applied, for example, to boxes. I thought perhaps it was an exercise in
ensuring that names on a list of desirable ones to be dropped had in fact
been dropped by mentally ticking them off as they occur.
[1] My immediate reaction to the term was to recall a poem my father used
to recite to me. I haven't heard it for at least 40 years and can't
remember much more than the beginning:
Old and old and very old
The Wonky Man sat by the fire,
Thin and thin and very thin,
And tall as a church spire...
Can anyone help with more? My searches failed utterly.
--
Noel
Chuck Riggs
A wonk, when I have seen or heard it used, is a non-derogatory term
for a specialist who is good at that speciality. A geek, on the other
hand, while he or she may well be knowledgeable, and they often are in
some technical area, is a socially inept person.
Wonks can be either male or female, but geeks are generally males.
--
Regards,
Chuck Riggs,
An American who lives near Dublin, Ireland and usually spells in BrE
Wood Avens
Wot, me? Certainly.
--
Katy Jennison
spamtrap: remove the first two letters after the @
Mike Lyle
"Wood Avens" <wood...@askjennison.com> wrote in message
news:uv1jg5hnb8ho8u3nt...@4ax.com...
did, too, from her days as a bureaucrat.)
Gordon Brown used to be the dead-ringer policy wonk: apparently, in the
happy days of opposition he'd do things like ring Simon Hoggart at
half-past ten at night with his latest calculation.
--
Mike.
Arfur Million
>
> I, too, am surprised at Richard's assertion that only a few Brits knew it. I
> thought the majority of Brit postings indicated we did, and an average use
> in the Guardian of around twice a week ought to be a further indicator that
> it's known here.
Perhaps Guardian readers just assume it's a misprint :-)
Regards,
Arfur
John Dean
For?
--
John Dean
Oxford
Arfur Million
Nothing in particular - just a misprint. The Guardian's quite famous
for them (rightly or wrongly, nowadays), after all.
Regards,
Arfur
Amethyst Deceiver
<richard.cham...@ntlworld.net> wrote:
>>> >Richard Chambers wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >> A little experiment:-
>>> >> What I would like you to do, if like me you have never heard of "wonk"
>>> >> before, is to reply with your own definition of the word, based on
>>> >> total ignorance. Together with why you think that might be the
>>> >> meaning of the word. Please do not reply if you already know the
>>> >> word.
SNIP
>The interesting finding is that practically all the respondents from North
>America already knew what it meant. Only a few of the British respondents
>knew it.
You did start off by saying "Please do not reply if you already know
the word" - I didn't respond because I already know the word!
John Dean
All the Guardian misprints I've ever seen or heard of started off as an
attempt to put down a genuine word. So as what might 'wonk' have started out
life? They didn't just slam in strings of random letters. If it's intended
to be one thing and ends up another, that's a misprint. Otherwise, that's
amore.
--
John Dean
Oxford
Steve Hayes
I thought I knew it, and then realised that I didn't.
I thought of three things:
1. Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory
2. Something unstable (wonky)
3. A large red clown nose thingy that is stuck on the front of a car.
Then I realised that the last of these was called a "gonk", not a "wonk".
They used to be used as a fund-raising gimmick by some charity or other, but I
haven't seen one for several years.
And from the definitions everyone has given, it doesn't appear that policy
wonks are thought of as wonky.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Roland Hutchinson
Alternative conclusion: Brits are better at complying with requests.
--
Roland Hutchinson
He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba,"
... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy.
--Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ )
R H Draney
"Wink", maybe?...or "work", if someone were transcribing from handwritten
notes....r
--
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?
R H Draney
>
>3. A large red clown nose thingy that is stuck on the front of a car.
>
>Then I realised that the last of these was called a "gonk", not a "wonk".
>They used to be used as a fund-raising gimmick by some charity or other, but I
>haven't seen one for several years.
I don't think they ever did that here, and I know "gonk" as the word for an
undesired background sound during a recording session....
The closest anyone's come to sticking red clown noses on cars in the US is this:
http://www.bumpernuts.com/IMG_0126.JPG
Steve Hayes
>Steve Hayes filted:
>>
>>3. A large red clown nose thingy that is stuck on the front of a car.
>>
>>Then I realised that the last of these was called a "gonk", not a "wonk".
>>They used to be used as a fund-raising gimmick by some charity or other, but I
>>haven't seen one for several years.
>
>I don't think they ever did that here, and I know "gonk" as the word for an
>undesired background sound during a recording session....
>
>The closest anyone's come to sticking red clown noses on cars in the US is this:
>
> http://www.bumpernuts.com/IMG_0126.JPG
We have those, in blue, sported by supporters of a rugby team popularly known
as the Blue Bulls.
But gonks were put on the front.
the Omrud
> On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:58:40 +0000, Amethyst Deceiver wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:48:11 -0000, "Richard Chambers"
>> <richard.cham...@ntlworld.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>>> Richard Chambers wrote:
>>>>>>> A little experiment:-
>>>>>>> What I would like you to do, if like me you have never heard of
>>>>>>> "wonk" before, is to reply with your own definition of the word,
>>>>>>> based on total ignorance. Together with why you think that might
>>>>>>> be the meaning of the word. Please do not reply if you already
>>>>>>> know the word.
>> SNIP
>>
>>> The interesting finding is that practically all the respondents from
>>> North America already knew what it meant. Only a few of the British
>>> respondents knew it.
>> You did start off by saying "Please do not reply if you already know the
>> word" - I didn't respond because I already know the word!
Same here.
> Alternative conclusion: Brits are better at complying with requests.
Engineer, rather than Brit, in my case. The rubric was clear.
--
David
John Dean
> John Dean filted:
>>
>> Arfur Million wrote:
>>> On 23 Nov, 18:17, "John Dean" <john-d...@fraglineone.net> wrote:
>>>> Arfur Million wrote:
>>>>> On 22 Nov, 00:26, "John Dean" <john-d...@fraglineone.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> I, too, am surprised at Richard's assertion that only a few Brits
>>>>>> knew it. I thought the majority of Brit postings indicated we
>>>>>> did, and an average use in the Guardian of around twice a week
>>>>>> ought to be a further indicator that it's known here.
>>>>
>>>>> Perhaps Guardian readers just assume it's a misprint :-)
>>>>
>>>> For?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Nothing in particular - just a misprint. The Guardian's quite famous
>>> for them (rightly or wrongly, nowadays), after all.
>>>
>>
>> All the Guardian misprints I've ever seen or heard of started off as
>> an attempt to put down a genuine word. So as what might 'wonk' have
>> started out life? They didn't just slam in strings of random
>> letters. If it's intended to be one thing and ends up another,
>> that's a misprint. Otherwise, that's amore.
>
> "Wink", maybe?...or "work", if someone were transcribing from
> handwritten notes....r
He was a policy wink ...
He was a policy work ...
Hmmm
--
John Dean
Oxford
Donna Richoux
> R H Draney wrote:
> > John Dean filted:
> >> All the Guardian misprints I've ever seen or heard of started off as
> >> an attempt to put down a genuine word. So as what might 'wonk' have
> >> started out life? They didn't just slam in strings of random
> >> letters. If it's intended to be one thing and ends up another,
> >> that's a misprint. Otherwise, that's amore.
> >
> > "Wink", maybe?...or "work", if someone were transcribing from
> > handwritten notes....r
>
> He was a policy wink ...
> He was a policy work ...
>
> Hmmm
Moving on. Cassell's says the 1980s US college "wonk" came from an
Australian 1940s term for an effeminate person or homosexual male,
actually. Do any of our Australians Fair recognize that?
Then again, Google Books has several hundred hits like these:
------
He was a "wonk" -- Pidgin English for a Chinese mongrel.
a half-starved wonk (mongrel dog)
tuming to see a wonk (the native dog) loping down the street
The common dog in China is called "wonk" and is either yellow or black
A dog, a wonk, shares the scavenging work of the Chinese towns with the
black and white crows,
"That is not a Chinese wonk" he said. "That is a well-bred dog.
away in the Chinese village a wonk dog bayed at the moon
Now not a soul was to be seen; not a child or even a wonk dog.
In the north, the foreigner's name for the watch dog is a "Wonk".
-------
Cassell's gives that meaning its own entry, indicating that it is
unrelated.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
Richard Chambers
> On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:58:40 +0000, Amethyst Deceiver wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:48:11 -0000, "Richard Chambers"
>> <richard.cham...@ntlworld.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>> >Richard Chambers wrote:
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> A little experiment:-
>>>>> >> What I would like you to do, if like me you have never heard of
>>>>> >> "wonk" before, is to reply with your own definition of the word,
>>>>> >> based on total ignorance. Together with why you think that might
>>>>> >> be the meaning of the word. Please do not reply if you already
>>>>> >> know the word.
>>
>> SNIP
>>
>>>The interesting finding is that practically all the respondents from
>>>North America already knew what it meant. Only a few of the British
>>>respondents knew it.
>>
>> You did start off by saying "Please do not reply if you already know the
>> word" - I didn't respond because I already know the word!
>
> Alternative conclusion: Brits are better at complying with requests.
Whether this is true or not, there is overwhelming evidence that my sampling
technique has gone very wonky.
Amongst those (including myself) who did not already know the word "wonk",
it has still been interesting to see the diversity of the guesses of its
meaning. As we learn the meaning of such words most often from the context
of what we read and hear, and not usually from the dictionary, it is not
surprising that most people have a few words that they use inappropriately
or with the incorrect meaning.
Richard Chambers Leeds UK.
CDB
James Hogg
We're getting away from the original context in which the word was used,
which was:
"Tory wonks, orchestrated by Steve Hilton"
That could easily be a Grauniad misprint for:
"Tory boinks, orchestrated by Steve Hilton"
--
James
Peter Moylan
> Moving on. Cassell's says the 1980s US college "wonk" came from an
> Australian 1940s term for an effeminate person or homosexual male,
> actually. Do any of our Australians Fair recognize that?
Never heard of it. But then I didn't arrive until the late 1940s, and it
could have been a short-lived term.