Honky-Tonk (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. A honky-tonk (also called a honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is a type of bar that provides musical entertainment (usually country music) to its patrons. Bars of this kind are common in the Southern and Southwestern United States. The term "honky-tonk" has also been applied to various styles of 20th-century American music. The origin of the term honky tonk is unknown. The earliest source explaining the derivation of the term (spelled "honkatonk") was an article published in 1900 by the New York Sun and widely reprinted in other newspapers. It states that the term came from the sound of geese, which led an unsuspecting group of cowboys to the flock instead of to the variety show they expected. The OED also states that the first use in print was in 1894 in the Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Oklahoma) newspaper, in which it was written "honk-a-tonk." However, the terms honky tonk, honk-a-tonk, and honkatonk have been cited from at least 1889 in the "Daily Gazette" (Fort Worth, Texas), from 1890 in the "Morning News" (Dallas, Texas), and 1892 in the Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas), which used the term to refer to an adult establishment in Fort Worth.