Gedunk Sundae

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

This is Barbara Burnett from La Jolla.

Well, what’s up, Barbara?

Well, I came across a curious word when I was touring, I believe, the Midway.

It may have been in the Pensacola Naval Air Museum,

But at any rate, it was a little store on a ship, on an aircraft carrier,

And it was the kind of thing that sells cigarettes and candy

And little items that you might get in a deli, but it was called the Gee Dunk.

The Gee Dunk.

I believe it was G-E-D-U-N-K.

And I thought at first it might be some kind of acronym for Gum Edibles Daily News Kiosk

Or something like that, but I don’t think that’s it.

But I have no idea what the origin of Gee Dunk might really be.

Well, first let’s just establish that that is the usual spelling.

You’ve got it right, G-E-D-U-N-K.

The earliest use that I can find is from a 1925 newspaper column in the Chicago Tribune.

But one of their running gags was about Gedunk Sundays,

And it’s Sunday as in the ice cream dish, S-U-N-D-A-E.

Oh, that kind of Sunday.

Yes, and where they got it from, I believe, is from the comic strip Herald Teen.

In the comic strip, Harold Teen has gedunk sundaes.

They’re a sweet treat.

And what you find shortly thereafter is that the word gedunk starts to appear

Not just in the Navy but in various places throughout American culture.

I mean, the term starts to appear to refer to ice cream or dessert or snacks

Or any kind of food.

And then it changed, and it became a term, as you saw in the military,

The place where you would buy or eat that food.

So the PX.

Wow.

So the bottom line here is that it probably came from a cartoon, a comic strip.

Probably did, and it was popularized in places very similar to this column in the Chicago Tribune.

Well, interesting.

Well, Barbara, thank you so much for calling, and bon appetit next time you go out for g’dunk.

Thank you.

G’dunk, whatever.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, Barbara.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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