Honkish?? Tup Keewah

topic posted Mon, March 29, 2004 - 11:55 AM by  Be-in
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I have a group of friends who, in high school, began inventing their own language. This continued to evolve over the course of the next 15 years (mainly because they refused to speak anything else and in order to hang out with them, people had to learn). This language, unfortunately named "Honkish", is no mere pig latin. It has its own idioms, even words that don't translate well into English. Honkish is derived from both English and French, and good Honkish makes frequent use of the triple entendre (in other words, the spoken phrase has meaning not only within its context in Honkish, but also sounds like words in both English and French and, when all cylinders are firing, it's funny in all three languages).

I personally know at least 30 people who are fluent in Honkish, and know that there are others. If anybody out there can puz, give me a shout--I don't live near these guys anymore and sometimes I feel like the last living unicorn, with a head full of stuff that almost no one understands. Chete.
posted by:
Be-in
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  • Re: Honkish?? Tup Keewah

    Sat, April 3, 2004 - 12:46 AM
    That's really cool, Ben. We know languages are dying all the time, I haven't heard of many new ones being born (though it sounds like Honkish could use a revival).

    Your story reminds me a bit of Boontling, though I don't know if Boontling is really used anymore (except as a tourist/beer-selling gimmick):
    www.avbc.com/visit/boontling.html
    • Re: Honkish?? Tup Keewah

      Wed, April 7, 2004 - 6:10 PM
      Eric, I finally got around to looking at the Boontling page and I'd have to agree--Honkish is very similar. I love the part about people adopting it as their first language and having a hard time speaking English. I've definitely seen that happen with Honkish. I had a friend that moved to a new apartnment once because he was seriously concerned about his English skills due to all the Honkish he was speaking with his roommates.
  • Re: Honkish?? Tup Keewah

    Sat, April 3, 2004 - 6:51 PM
    Maybe you could start a Honkish tribe and begin to disseminate your beloved. Feed us Honkish diction, grammar, syntax. Assign lessons. I'm all about it.
    • Re: Honkish?? Tup Keewah

      Sat, April 3, 2004 - 7:09 PM
      Yeah, you want to learn to puz(speak Honkish)? Barg(cool)! I was feeling buffed(in this sense, ignored--could also mean shot down, defeated, run over, or busted) that none of you ponies(people without purpose or direction, people with too much free time--derived from pone urp--that is, no purp, no purpose) responded to my puz(in this sense, speech, drivel). If you think you can pick it(figure it out--think pick like a lock), I'll peep kacking(literally, keep packing (think bowls), in this sense, keep it coming). Should we hoat(where to begin--in this sense, get ourselves) a new maze(literally, house--in this sense, tribe), or do you want to jed(literally, go to bed, in this sense, stay) here?
      • Re: Honkish?? Tup Keewah

        Sat, April 3, 2004 - 7:19 PM
        Hoat a new maze!
        • Re: Honkish?? Tup Keewah

          Sat, April 3, 2004 - 7:52 PM
          Old hain(from "hold ain", literally, hold your ass--be patient)! I'll hoat one when I get finished picking ain(wasting time--many descriptions of what you might do with/to yourself are expressed in terms of what you might do with/or to your anus--keep in mind, at its root Honkish is exceptionally crass and filthy). It will be the hubble doat(double hoat--spoken with the emphasis on the first word) since we start with two people, but we need some hairy(literally, "hairy hump"--a random person--this could also be said as "eerayha") to join in to make it public tribe. Hoat(in this sense, gimme) eerayha? (this is a grammar example--the question "can you suggest someone?" is rephrased as an order, "hoat eerayha," which, of course, means literally "use a coat hanger to snag and deliver unto me a hairy, hunchbacked random stranger for use in our tribe without getting up from where you are", but is still pronounced rising at the end, as you would pronounce a question. Less literally, that would mean "gimme a random person."

          Yikes--this is making me realize I'm out of practice and there's vocabulary I have forgotten. I have to see if I can get one of the "native" speakers to join the new tribe, or else get a copy of the Honk-dick, the definitive Honkish dictionary.

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