Brit

Hokey-Pokey Etymology is the study of a word’s origin and how the words have altered throughout history; words are defined differently at an early point in history than what they are defined as now sometimes because of new technology that has been developed or new traditions that are used while older traditions are no longer noticed. These changes are unavoidable and unstoppable since words have continued to change and evolve since language first came into being. The Proof of these changes lies with words that are no longer in use and with words that have new meanings. An example of this is found with the word Hokey-Pokey; this word at one point in its etymology history meant something other than what Hokey-Pokey is defined as today. When thinking about the word Hokey-Pokey people normally think about the song, “You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in and you shake it all about…” (Hokey-Pokey). However, this song isn’t related to the original word use of the word Hokey-Pokey. This word has a history of “accusations of Plagiarisms” (Hokey-Pokey). This song was originally written by Jimmy Kennedy in 1942, but was originally called “cokey-cokey, the okey-cokey and the hokey-cokey” (Hokey-Pokey). It wasn’t until 1949 that Larry LaPrise was given credit for the United States version that used the name Hokey-Pokey; this is probably where the accusations of plagiarism came from (Hokey-Pokey). This proves how languages change throughout history, altering our view on words and their evolving uses for us compared to how we used to use these words before they evolved into their new meanings to fit today’s society. The original meaning of the word Hokey-Pokey was “a cheap kind of ice-cream sold by street vendors” (Hokey-Pokey). In the etymology of this word it was thought to have been altered from the word hocus-pocus meaning “deception, cheater, underhand work” (Hokey-Pokey); this was used as a form of slang at that time in history. Hokey-Pokey was mostly seen in magazines and other publicly viewed sources such as “Sunday Mag, old London Cries, Pall Mall Gaz and Times” (Hokey-Pokey). However, the origin of this word is not too distinct according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The word Hokey-Pokey may also have meant “a toffee-like sweet” (Hokey-Pokey). This is because in the ice-cream there were sometimes pieces of toffee mixed into the ice-cream which was a favorite of most costumers. Also lastly there was a different form of the word Hokey-Pokey and it was Hoky-Poky; all they did was drop the letter “E” and that left them with the rest of the word. The appearance of the Hokey-Pokey ice-cream was with the Italians who migrated to Britain. These Italians had “fled poverty in their own country” and this word coincides with these emigration as it was “recorded in the UK in 1884 and in eastern US in 1886” (Hokey-Pokey) they sold ice-cream on the streets from handcarts and they were referred to as the “Hokey-Pokey men” (Hokey-Pokey). It was a very popular norm to eat ice-cream in England and everyone was doing it. Everyone was going to have their “Penny Wipe; which consisted of a dab of the refreshing delicacy on a piece of questionably clean paper” (Hokey-Pokey). This started to change the way others around the United States sold their ice-cream; many sold ice-cream just like the Italians straight from a cart on the streets. The sellers would shout out as they sold their ice-cream, “Gelati, ecco un Poco!” Which means ice-cream, here is a little! Or O che poco! This means O how Little! Meaning that it was cheap rather than insufficient in quantity” (Hokey-Pokey). It was rather cheap since its price was only a penny and this led to the cry “Hokey-Pokey, penny a lump!” However, no one is sure if this is where the name came from, but it is suggested that it was the Italians themselves that brought the name with them. James Halliwell-Phillipps from the UK pointed out that this word Hokey-Pokey already had another meaning which was deception, cheating or underhanded activity, but was later developed into the term hocus-pocus since it was ideally a source of trickery or deceptions (Hokey-Pokey). People in New Zealand, not Britain; added toffee into ice-cream and it is unclear as to how Hokey-Pokey came to “refer to a type of toffee” (Hokey-Pokey). This cheap Ice-cream that took the name Hokey-Pokey certainty changed the way ice-cream was served. By using the Etymology of the word, Hokey-Pokey, which is the study of a word’s origin and how the words have altered throughout history now we see just how much the word Hokey-Pokey has altered and evolved throughout its history. With this word Hokey-Pokey which means a cheap ice-cream sold by street vendors. Later on it was discovered that this word already had another meaning; Hocus-Pocus meaning trickery. This shows just how much Words alter and evolve over time with how they are seen and sued by all sorts of different people around the word. Hokey-Pokey is a kid’s song sung for fun and no longer the cheap ice-cream that was sold by street vendors. Language is always evolving and developing over time and “That’s what it’s all about” (Hokey-Pokey).

Works Cited “Hokey-Pokey, n” entries 1-4. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 3 Feb. 2014. http://metis.galib.uga.edu/ssp/cgi-bin/oed-idx.pl . “Hokey-Pokey.” Weird Word. World Wide Words. Investigating the English Language across Globe. Web. 3 Feb 2014. “The Hokey-Pokey” The Place for Children Misic. Web. 3 Feb 2014.