The "Hunky" gene

SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2009

The "Hunky" Gene

When I was a kid in Smock, the "town" kids inUniontownused to call us "Hunkys".Wikipediadefines "hunky" as a derogatory term for immigrants of Hungarian, Slovak, or generally middle-European people. BUT, it also defines the term as "beefcake" or a person who is a "hunk". Nice. And the term is LOCAL. It is used primarily in Western Pennsylvania or Western New York.

So what is the "hunky" culture? It is a way of life developed by our ancestors to express freedom of religion and the regaining of their personal freedoms which were taken away in the "old country". And we could not accurately describe the "hunky" culture without mentioning food. (See "The Food Article" elsewhere in this blog.)

Hunkys settled into mostly industrial areas because they weren't afraid of work. Hard, back breaking work found in places like coal mines and steel mills. And the dedication of those Hunky workers wasphenomenal. I actually know of a coal miner who stood in cold water at work for so long that he had to have both legs amputated below the knees because of the destruction of his blood vessels. He was fitted with two artificial limbs and promptlywent back to work in the mine. That's Hunky style, my friend. A little crazy, but there was no welfare or pity for these men and women.

Sometime in the 1960's, I started to hear the term "Hunky style" used to describe polkas that were....well....hunky style. You'll just have to go to YouTube and find some and take a listen.

Hunky men loved many things. Guns, beer, Hunky food, trucks, deer hunting and Hunky music, just to name a few. The Hunky women loved pretty much the same stuff. And Hunky people in general loved (here, you should fill in the blank) and most everything and everyone.

OK, before some narrow-minded self important outsider starts to slam me for Hunky exploitation, let me continue my comments on this subject.

Hunky people loved God. They were in church every Sunday. And they were generous to a fault. I grew up thinking that it was mandatory to take food to a family who was either poor or recently lost a loved one.

Sure we ate and grew some pretty impressive hunky bodies. But we took those bodies out on the dance floor at every wedding. After all, when a girl from Smock was married, you invited practically the entire town. And if you didn't dance, then shame on you.

We grew "organic" gardens long before the term was invented. We baked pies from wild apples and blackberries and used recipes passed down from grandma. And if you happened to be at a home when dinnertime drew near, you stayed. In fact, you were almost MADE to stay.

There was a bond and a brotherhood in our little Hunky town that could never be broken. Sure, people would talk about their neighbors, but show me a town where that doesn't happen. At least in Smock, the worst person would still be looked after by the rest of the town if they happened to fall on hard times.

I found a great dictionary of our West Pennsylvania "language" calledCoalSpeak. You can find it here..http://www.coalregion.com/Speak/speakA.htm

So to all of those Hunkys out there, may I suggest that after reading this, we take a look at that old lunch bucket that Dad took to the mine every day or go out to the butka and slice off a piece of kolatchiand grab a Rolling Rock and turn on the polkas. After all, that's what we do.

An' I'll see yinz guys later. That comes from one Hunky to another.