Arkansas Blog: Hunker on down

Ain't nothin' but a protest pose.

In the forgotten trends section of Great Arkansas Contributions to Humanity, "hunkerin'" grabs our attention today.

A Time dispatch, from 1959, offers a nice primer.

To last year's campus craze for stuffing people into telephone booths, the University of Arkansas last week added a saner fad: "hunkerin." It means squatting on the balls of the feet for a long time (hunkers is Scottish for haunches). The fad grew out of a chair shortage in a fraternity house at Arkansas, whose students had watched their Ozark daddies squatting and whittling at crossroads stores. Hunkerers always hunker together, and girl hunkerers are perfectly eligible. Sophisticates hunker flatfooted. Real progressives hunker with elbows inside the knees, though this is difficult while "hunkerin' and hookin' " (squatting and drinking beer). Hunkerin' is not likely to be confined to Arkansas. Arkansas travelers have already exported it to campuses in Missouri, Mississippi and Oklahoma. Competitions are under way.

Hunkerers feel that their position offers splendid perspective on lofty problems. They urge steel-strike negotiators to hunker awhile, envision Eisenhower and Khrushchev hunkerin' at the summit. "This is a peaceful thing," one hunkerer says. "A respite from a world of turmoil. The main purpose of hunkerin' is to get down and hunker together. It's a friendship thing: get your friends to hunker with you. The man you don't know is the man you haven't hunkered with."

More great pictures here.

Via kottke.

Comments

Loved that sign "Cliff's Real Italian Pizza" Must be short for Cliffordio.

Posted by: 70%er | April 30, 2009 03:51 PM

Priceless! Humans hunker in every culture but leave it to college students to codify it in to a fad.
I once hunkered easily, but now am overhaunched for perfect balance. Real Arkies use the word as a verb very naturally. Love it.

Posted by: mag | April 30, 2009 03:55 PM

Looks like he's squatting to me.

Posted by: eLwood | April 30, 2009 04:11 PM

My cousin and I used to hunker while playing *jacks*..........

remember jacks???????????????

Posted by: jazzy | April 30, 2009 04:16 PM

As someone that spend long hours hunkering while gardening, I'm here to tell you that it can really ruin your knees later on in life if you do it too much.

Then again, pretty much everything can if you do it too much.

Posted by: rablib | April 30, 2009 04:37 PM

Supposedly, that is how ToadSuck got its name. At the ferry crossing in Conway the hangers on, who supposedly "hunkered" down, chawing terbac, spitting, arguing, drinking 'shine and making a general nusiance of themselves were observed by the travlers passing through and who commented they looked toads sucking down the liqued gold known to stiffen spines and anesthetize the brain all at the same time.
Whether true or a simple folk tale, I would be interested in reading other thoughts on hunkering. My Dad did it, especially while fox hunting, knife and stick of wood in hand, bottle passing around, and "listen to old blue", "man she's in the lead now", while I'm fighting skeeters, trying to edge close to the fire and wishing I sure was home in bed.

Posted by: ArkansawTravler | April 30, 2009 04:44 PM

Well, almost Arkie Traveler:

The legend behind Toad Suck is that long ago, steamboats traveled the Arkansas River when the water was at the right depth. When it wasn't, the captains and their crew tied up to wait where the Toad Suck Lock & Dam now spans the river near Conway. While they waited, they refreshed themselves at the local tavern. The dismayed folks living nearby were heard to say: "They suck on the bottle 'til they swell up like toads." Hence, the name Toad Suck. The tavern is long gone, but the legend lives on at Toad Suck
wiki

Posted by: eLwood | April 30, 2009 04:57 PM

interesting that both stories have alcohol as a central role but conway's in a dry county and probably will stay that way until hell freezes over, as far as I know. Its a catchy name for a festival, though. and both legends are very entertaining.

jazzy, I remember jacks. I never could master the art, though, and Im still just that incoordinated to this day.

Posted by: tina | April 30, 2009 07:18 PM

That fraternity house mentioned in the article was, if I'm not mistaken, the Sigma Chi House (a/k/a the Young Republicans Club today. Back then, not.)

Posted by: ThermosDay | May 1, 2009 11:31 AM

Arkansas Blog

Hunker on down

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