Is “Honey Hole” an Offensive Term?

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, my name is Aaron. How are you today?

Doing well. And yourself, what’s going on?

Doing great. I have a question about a phrase that caused some unrest. I work for a law enforcement department in the Midwest, and someone recently during a telephone briefing used the phrase honey hole, and it was taken to mean, at least by the majority of us, that it was a place where there were many citations that were available to be written. And two people from our team took great offense to the phrase, and it became a pretty big deal.

That individual that mentioned the phrase actually got into some trouble for it.

So the phrase again was honey hole, H-O-N-E-Y, H-O-L-E, honey hole?

That’s correct.

And it was a place where officers might have a lot of opportunities to write citations? They’ll ticket a lot of speeders or something?

Actually, it’s more along the lines of people disregarding parking instructions.

Okay.

Oh, okay.

So the idea, as it was intended, was a honey hole is a place where you were just going to get those tickets written and do a lot of what you’re supposed to be doing.

That’s exactly correct.

And what did they, the other people took honey hole to mean, what, something sexual?

Yes.

Like a part of the body?

Apparently, yes.

Okay, gotcha.

Oh, yeah, I can see how that might be some confusion if no one had, if they hadn’t heard the term.

I can totally see how they might have jumped to some conclusions.

But I got to say on this one, it’s a close call.

I think it’s probably in the minds of the hearers.

I think the misreading is their fault.

And here’s why.

Honeyhole has had a zillion meanings.

You can find it in the slang dictionaries.

You can find it in old newspapers and old books.

You can find it in magazines and that sort of thing.

And none of them, for that particular exact term, honeyhole,

None of them that I know of have referred to any part of the body, any sex organ at all.

Just so you know.

Wonderful. Wonderful news.

I will share that with my co-workers.

And the thing is, what’s interesting is the things that honey hole has referred to,

A hole in a tree or the ground where honey is coming out as far back as the 1800s,

A good hunting or fishing spot. All the fishermen and all the hunters who are listening to the show are like,

Yeah, a honey hole that’s where you know you can you can bag your limit or you can you can

Use all the fish up to the limit with with no questions asked easy peasy. A honey hole is a

Place on the baseball field where a hit ball is likely to get a batter on base. It’s a place where

Police are likely to catch a lot of speeders or write a lot of tickets. That goes back at least

20 years. It’s a honey hole is a strong source of income or profit. It is a hole made in a log to

Attract raccoons. It’s a place where you might put a fish in the ground and perhaps some vegetable

Matter to make kind of in-ground compost in order to prepare that soil for planting, kind of in the

Old Native American tradition of putting a fish in the ground. And then there are the negative

Uses of honey hole where honey is kind of used ironically or jokingly. So it’s a latrine or a

Place where human waste is buried.

And a honey hole can also just be generally a dirty or diseased area, say, someplace where

You’re likely to catch malaria or someplace where you’re likely to get an airborne disease,

That sort of thing.

It’s ironic in that sense.

But what I think your hearers were thinking of was the term honeypot, which has been used

To refer to the female sex organs.

And that wasn’t what was said.

So if that’s what they interpreted or that they read it as, it’s kind of on them.

All right.

Well, thank you very much.

I really appreciate the clarification.

Thank you very much.

Take care now.

Have a great day.

Bye-bye.

Thanks, you too.

Goodbye.

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