Afflicted by Honkus Bonkus of the Konkus

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Aubrey Hornack.

I actually live in Waco, Texas, but grew up in southern Illinois.

Okay, well, we’re glad to have you, Aubrey.

What’s up?

Yeah, so I have an interesting phrase that I’ve actually continued using, but my mom used it when we were kids.

She was very protective.

I didn’t want us to touch everything out in public to get germs, to get sick.

And so she would tell us that, you know, not to touch that or we’ll get honkus of the bonkus.

Honkus of the bonkus?

Yes.

Honkus of the bonkus.

And what is that?

Did you get it?

Well, after hearing that, I wasn’t going to touch anything.

That sounded terrifying.

It does.

What did she say about it?

Did she give you any more information about that condition, honkus of the bonkus?

It just means like you get just some horrible disease or some sickness, some unknown sickness or whatever.

I was curious because I was like, well, where did you hear it?

And her mom also used it.

Now, my mom was born in 1948 and her mom was born in 1920.

So it’s been around for a long time.

Yeah, it absolutely has.

We have some history for you if you want it.

Oh, yes.

Strangely it appears in a series of Popeye comic strips in 1933 and this looks like where it came from but there it was called Bonkus of the Concus instead of Honkus of the Bonkus and and in this series of strips through like August and September of 1933 Popeye has this whole back and forth because he’s trying to take care of a sweet pea the little baby and somebody’s trying to take sweet pea from him and they hit him on the head with a baseball bat.

And then he’s diagnosed by the doctor as having bonkers of the conchus.

And Olive Oil is, of course, really upset.

And she goes to the doctor and she says, doctor, what is this bonkers of the conchus?

Is it serious?

And he’s like, I have records of 1,000 cases and every one of them died.

There is no hope for him.

Oh, no.

So, you know, if you’re a big fan of Popeye, you’re really worried until the next strip came out so you could see if Popeye would live.

But it probably comes from the words bonk and conk, which, of course, both mean to hit.

But also conk has this meaning of head, your noggin, to the 1830s or so.

But you’ll find a lot of variations of this.

Honkus of the bonkus, honkus on the bonkus, bonkus of the conkus, bonkus in the conkus, conkus, bonkus, honkus, bonkus, bonkus, conkus, honkus, conkus of the bonkus.

That’s my favorite because it’s all of them.

Honkus, conkus of the bonkus.

And they all are this made up placeholder disease.

And we have a few of these in English where we just kind of like when you talk about having the crud for a lot of people, that’s not a specific thing.

It just means you kind of feel bad.

You know, blah, the blahs.

Okay.

But I bet that was terrifying when you were a little kid.

Oh, my goodness.

So that’s serious, right?

And the other thing is that U.S. ending of both of those words, that us sound, kind of is vaguely fake Latin.

So that kind of makes it sound a little more official.

Interesting.

Like I said, I had searched.

I found it in the Urban Dictionary.

But again, there was no etymology.

But I also was thinking, you know, it sounded similar to Hocus Pocus.

Oh, yeah.

I could see that being an influence.

Yeah, I wasn’t sure if it was related to that at all.

It is.

And that U.S. ending again, hocus pocus, sounds kind of mystical and serious because it reminds us of Latin words that end in U.S.

So it’s exactly the same thing that’s happening there as with honkus of the bonkus.

And, Aubrey, before we go, I just want to say do not touch whatever it is your mother said not to touch because you do not want to get honkus conkus of the bonkus.

I don’t know what it was.

Maybe it was like the radiator, but yeah, do not do that.

And if you have any symptoms, call your doctor.

Yes, I will definitely.

And, you know, my son knows not to touch anything for Honka to the Blanca, too.

One more generation.

Keep it going.

Take care of yourself, and thanks for calling.

All right.

You too.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

The Popeye comic strips are very entertaining.

They hadn’t been in the paper that long, like since 1929, so it was only four years later.

They used to be called Thimble Theater.

And then after Popeye became one of the most famous characters in that Thimble Theater comic, he got his own.

And it started to be called Thimble Theater starring Popeye.

But there is one particular panel, which I love, which is after Popeye is being diagnosed with Bonkers of the Concus, Olive Oil has fainted, and she’s on the floor, and she’s like, Bonkers of the Concus!

Oh, no, no, not that.

So you know it’s serious.

She’s got those little tears radiating from her face like they do in comic strips.

I forget what they call them, pewds or something.

I don’t know.

Yeah, I think it’s pludes.

That’s it, yeah.

Yeah, I love the Popeye cartoons on TV as a kid.

I developed a taste for spinach very early because of Popeye.

That explains your big guns, Martha.

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