Editing Honky-tonk (section)

==Etymology==
The origin of the term ''honky-tonk'' is unknown. The earliest known use in print is an article in the ''[[Journal Star (Peoria)|Peoria Journal]]'' dated June 28, 1874, stating, "The police spent a busy day today raiding the [[bagnio]]s and honkytonks."<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.becomingrichardpryor.com/pryors-peoria/assets/Peoriana_Adaline_Cole_all.pdf|title=Underworld – Women|publisher=“Peoriana” collection, Peoria Public Library|pages=2335–2342}}</ref> 

There are subsequent citations from 1890 in ''[[The Dallas Morning News]]'',<ref>''The Dallas Morning News'' (Dallas, Texas), August 6, 1890: "Myself and him set and talked awhile and he got up and said he wanted to go to the honk-a-tonk (variety show)."</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2015}} 1892 in the ''[[The Daily News (Texas)|Galveston Daily News]]'' ([[Galveston, Texas]])<ref>''Galveston Daily News'', July 26, 1892, p. 6: "Fort Worth, Tex. (...) A youth named Goodman, who arrived here from Wilbarger county entered Andrews' honkatonk on Fifteenth street and was ordered out on account of his age." ({{citation|url=http://www.barrypopik.com/article/1686/honky-tonk-not-from-tonk-pianos|title=Honky Tonk (Not from Tonk Pianos)|access-date=July 9, 2006}})</ref> (which used the term to refer to an adult establishment in [[Fort Worth, Texas|Fort Worth]]), and in 1894 in ''[[The Ardmoreite|The Daily Ardmoreite]]'' in Oklahoma.<ref>''The Daily Ardmoreite'' (Oklahoma), February 26, 1894, p. 2, col. 1. (Oklahoma Historical Society, Microfilm #110). "The honk-a-tonk last night was well attended by ball heads, bachelors and leading citizens. Most of them are inclined to kick themselves this morning for being sold."</ref> Early uses of the term in print mostly appear along a corridor roughly coinciding with [[Cattle drives in the United States|cattle drive]] trails extending from Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, into south central Oklahoma, suggesting that the term may have been a localism spread by cowboys driving cattle to market. The sound of ''honky-tonk'' (or ''honk-a-tonk'') and the types of places that were called honky-tonks suggests that the term may be an [[Onomatopoeia|onomatopoeic]] reference to the loud, boisterous music and noise heard at these establishments.

One theory is that the "tonk" portion of the name may have come from the brand name of piano made by William Tonk & Bros., an American manufacturer of large upright pianos<ref>Pierce, ''Pierce Piano Atlas''.</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2015}} (established 1881),<ref name="Sweeny Piano.com">{{cite web|title=Piano Manufacturers New York State 1789–1911|url=http://www.sweeneypiano.com/interstate/manufacturers/ny_piano_manufacturers.cfm|website=Sweeneypiano.com}}</ref> which made a piano with the decal "Ernest A. Tonk". The Tonk brothers, William and Max, established the Tonk Bros. Manufacturing Company in 1873, so such an etymology is possible,<ref>{{cite book|title=Tonk Manufacturing Company records|date=January 21, 1873|oclc = 713358409}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0KdzNQEACAAJ|title=Memoirs of a Manufacturer|first=William|last=Tonk|date=January 21, 2019|publisher=Presto|access-date=January 21, 2019|via=Google Books}}</ref> however, these pianos were not manufactured until 1889, at which point the term seems to have already been established.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hon2.htm|title=World Wide Words: Honky-tonk|website=World Wide Words|access-date=January 21, 2019}}</ref>

An early source purporting to explain the derivation of the term (spelled ''honkatonk'') was an article published in 1900 by the ''New York Sun'' and widely reprinted in other newspapers.<ref>''Reno Evening Gazette'' (Nevada), February 3, 1900, p. 2, col. 5.</ref> The article, however, reads more like a humorous legend or fable, so its veracity is questionable.