On a more serious note...
The Origin of the Word "Honky" and It's Rise to Popular Slang
The word honky as a racial epitath came into use sometime around the turn of the century in Chicago most likely. Following the
Great Chicago Fire of 1871, there was a rapid influx of Eastern European immigrants, mainly the Polish, Hungarian, and Slovak, in what has been termed the
Za Chlebem or "For Bread". Eastern European immigrants came seeking to capitalize on the rebuilding efforts and to escape the
Russificationof Polish lands were a monumental force in helping Chicago expand into the great city it is today.
Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian share a
homonym in the two words
bohac, which is a nickname for a rich man and "bohoc" which means fool or stupid. A third Hungarian word entered the equation when
bohunk, a disparaging term for a laborer, entered common slang to refer to the new Bohemian laborers in the meat packing district which was mostly mixed black and Polish/Hungarian immigrants. African Americans adopted a mixed version of all three words to describe "white" and added the "y" to the end much like the term "whitey" to describe all caucasians, whom they didn't differentiate.