Janky, a Fifty-Year Slang Summary

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Melanie and I’m calling from San Antonio.

Hey, Melanie, welcome.

Thank you.

I am calling about the word janky. I don’t know when I started using it. I believe it was when I lived in California, but my family and I use it for pretty much everything. It means something that’s, you know, not good, not working well. But we would even use it to the point where when the dogs were dirty, she would say, please de-jankify the dogs. And I knew exactly what that meant.

I’m going to borrow that one.

No, it works really well because that’s not a full bath. They’re just janky. They’re not dirty. They’re just janky.

Oh, okay. All right. So that’s not like a dog that’s been skunked.

No, not that bad. That would need a bath, not a de-jankification.

De-jankification. Janky. So J-A-N-K-Y.

Yes, that’s how I would spell it. And you picked it up in California. Do you remember about when?

I guess it would have to have been 10 years ago because I’ve been in Texas for eight. But people in Texas seem to know what I’m saying. And I could be exaggerating that timeline. It could have been Texas. But the dogs that were janky were mostly living in California. So that’s why I think.

Well, it’s been around long enough. I think that people, it’s got a pretty widespread usage across the country. So you could have picked it up anywhere. I don’t know that it’s ever been regional janky. It first pops up in the late 1980s. I did an entry for it in one of my books in the mid-2000s, and I was able to take it back to the early 1990s. And then the Oxford English Dictionary did an entry later, and they were able to take it back even further. But you’ll find it spelled as jinky. You’ll find it spelled as J-I-N-J-A-N-K-I-E-J-A-N-K-E-Y. And the belief is, from people who’ve looked at this word, is it’s probably a blend of junky and influenced by things like skanky and stanky, S-T-A-N-K-Y. You know, that kind of slangy way of saying stinky.

Oh, yeah. I’ve definitely said stanky, so that makes sense.

So stanky plus junky plus skanky gets you janky. And Melanie, I think you’re right that people can probably guess what it means just from hearing the word itself and hearing it in use. I mean, it sort of suggests what it is, doesn’t it?

It does, almost like an onomatopoeia. But, yeah, so it’s like, and the combination of the words makes more sense because I’m like, it’s definitely not a jank, like a mechanical jank or anything. So that makes perfect sense.

But there are some, like, nuances to it, too, because a janky machine isn’t necessarily a dirty machine. A janky machine is one that doesn’t work well, right?

Yeah, but I say janky when things don’t work well, too, sometimes. So if a janky chair could be clean but broken.

Right. Exactly. But also, but you could have a janky, something that’s brand new and janky might just mean it’s like a knockoff or a cheap version of the real thing.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. Or if you go into a restaurant and it’s like not all it’s cracked up to be, you know, like they charge you extra for salsa. You know, like this janky restaurant charges me $3 for salsa.

What? That’s illegal.

It’s the best word. Now that I’m realizing, I guess I use it too much, and that’s why I was so curious about it. But everything you’re saying, I think I’ve used it in that context.

Keep doing it. Keep rolling.

Yeah, it’s great. You have my permission. I’ll send you your certificate.

Yeah, and thank you for de-jenkification. Your de-jenkification is good for me.

Anytime. Maybe that’ll be added one day.

All right. Melanie, take care of yourself.

You too. Y’all have a great one. Thanks so much.

Bye-bye.

Thanks, Melanie. Bye.

Bye.

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