Hanky-Panky - Theatre Etymology - Part 52

When people today hear "hanky-panky," they tend to think that it has to do with people engaging in sexual activity. After all, that is how most people use the term. It can also mean bad behavior or trickery. It is this second definition that comes from the theatre and performances.

The term hanky-panky originated in the 1840s. It is thought that it came from the magician's handkerchief and might be an alteration of hocus pocus. The first time it appeared in print seems to confirm these theories. It was in 1841 in the British humor magazine Punch, or the London Charivari. It stated, "Only a little hanky-panky, my lud. The people likes it; they loves to be cheated before their faces. One, two, three – presto – begone. I’ll show your ludship as pretty a trick of putting a piece of money in your eye and taking it out of your elbow, as you ever beheld."

By the 1900s, the meaning of loving or sexual activity became associated with the term hanky-panky. It is likely that the term became and stayed popular because of the rhyming words.

The origin of hanky-panky (neither term having a meaning that means the same thing when the words are put together) is considered an H-P rhyming compound created sometime between 1835 and 1845. Other H-P rhyming compounds are hocus-pocus, higgledy-piggledy, hinky-pinky, hinkity-pinkity, hodgepodge, and hokey-pokey.

Hanky-panky has since been used for the title of many things. A few of these things are musical albums by Tommy James and the Shondells and a musical album by Hank Jones. There's also an episode of King of the Hill titled "Hanky Panky" and 1982 and 2017 films.

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