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#17292 01/28/01 07:08 AM
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Whoa!

Skank has two musical meanings that I know of, one "old" as Wow describes, and another right up to date. Skank bands are bands which combine sophistication and technical expertise with a certain basic grittiness (which is probably why "skank"). Steely Dan is MY skank band.

The other meaning of skank was (and maybe still is) sexually dirty, messy, fetishy. A friend of mine who works for the censor here once said that a lot of "skank" porno is crossing their desks. He wasn't carrying any samples with him , but the way he described it, it is the antithesis of the "glamour" type of porn that you get in Playboy - it's messy and down and dirty. Maybe it's an indicator of the quality of the photography or something. I rather shudder to think of the alternatives ...

I've never looked "manky" up in the dictionary, but I've only ever heard it used here by non-Americans and it is usually used to mean pretty much what jmh says.



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#17293 01/28/01 10:52 AM
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Manky is also one of my father's favourite words and has pretty much the same meaning as jo gives it, but with the added overtone of smelling rather high. Old cheese, or socks that have been worn rather too long would be typical referents.

Bingley


Bingley
#17294 01/28/01 06:14 PM
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RE: "these words are not real English and he has made them up."

It is my personal (perhaps heretical) belief that dictionaries are ultimately descriptive rather than prescriptive. That is, the language comes from the people, and if the people want to use the word "skanky" to mean unclean and promiscuous (which is how my peers and I use the word), and if a reasonable number of people within earshot understand the word, then the word is "real." Either a word catches on or it doesn't. If it becomes widely used on it gains "legitimacy" and ultimately enters the dictionary. [end of rant] :)



#17295 01/28/01 08:12 PM
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RE: "these words are not real English and he has made them up."

well, as we've seen, this was an ill-considered opinion with regard to these words; in fact, manky is already in the OED and has only been coarsened in slang -- perhaps skanky in the nasty sense comes from rhyming slang.

manky - Bad, inferior, defective; dirty.
Possibly influenced by Fr. manqué.

-joe (don't say hanky-panky to an OP) friday


#17296 01/29/01 12:01 PM
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On the spur of the moment, what about a little contest: Who knows a word ending in ..nky that has a positive meaning?


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swanky. And if you're into SM, spanky.



TEd
#17298 01/29/01 01:29 PM
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i know the word skanky-- but used to define beer that has gone bad-- either the stuff left over in the keg-- that you think might be drinkable-- or some beer you left at the summer house last fall-- that you convince yourself might be drinkable since its been "chilled' all winter in the unheated house--

you open the can/bottle-- and ugh!-- skanky beer! smells bad-- worse, vile, putrid-- enough to put you off beer for a while...


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Personal favorite: Funky, as in "Daaamn, that's a funky beat!"
Some of our younger female posters may use hunky to describe a good looking man.


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...hunky, kinky...
==> winky


#17301 01/29/01 04:09 PM
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positive ...nky

spunky


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