truTVJun 5, 2019
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This segment is from .021-.034 in that video.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision: June 27, 2022
This pancocojams post presents some history of the African American phrase "put some stank on it" and provides some definitions for and comments about that term and similar terms.
This post also showcases a YouTube clip from the television episode that is entitled "Impractical Jokers: Inside Jokes - Put Some Stank On It | truTV". My description of a portion of that episode and my comments about that episode's definition of and use of the word stank and the phrase "put some stank on it" are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for linguistic, historical, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those featured in this embedded video and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH (AAVE) MEANING OF "STANK"
"Stank" is an African American Vernacular English adjective that means "really stinks". “Stank” can also be an African American Vernacular English(AAVE) noun. One AAVE meaning for that noun is “someone or something who (that) really stinks”.
No past tense is meant or implied by the AAVE word “stank”.
Although the word “stank” in the saying “Put some tank on it” originally meant to have an odorous (stinky) smell, the contemporary meaning of “stank” in that saying means to add your own unique flavor (style) to something that you do and in doing so, make it funky (with "funky" meaning "very good".
The phrase "add some soul to it" and "add your own flavor to the mix" are synonyms for "Put some stank on it".
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AN URBAN DICTIONARY DEFINITION FOR "PUT SOME STANK ON IT"
Here is the only urban dictionary entry for "put some stank on it" (as of Nov. 19, 2020)
From https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=put%20some%20stank%20on%20it
"put some stank on it
(phrase), (sl) - Phrase meaning to add a personal flare, or special ability to any given task or action. As in throwing an especially fast fast-ball, or making a difficult billiards shot. This can be applied to almost anything where talent is a factor in achieving the desired result
I've never seen such a shot pulled off under those
conditions! He really put some stank on it that time!
Haywood Jablomy 2 December 28, 2017
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The urban dictionary definition of "put some stank on it" is used in the truTelevision episode that is embedded in this pancocojams post.
I can see how that contributor got that definition from the African American vernacular terms for "put some stank on it", and "add your flavor to the mix". However, that urban dictionary entry is used as a definition for "put some stank on it", it should be considered as accidentally or purposely moving away from those African American originated vernacular definitions.
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MY DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBEDDED TELEVISION EPISODE
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlxFMxsSveo&ab_channel=truTV
"Impractical Jokers: Inside Jokes - Put Some Stank On It | truTV
[the video's summary: "Murr teaches the new apprentice how to add stank to her cleaning routine. #truTV #Insidejokes"
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Here's my unofficial summary of this episode (from .021 -.034)
A middle age White man named Mrr is shown with his new apprentice is a middle aged Black woman who is not introduced by name and who never says anything in this segment. Mrr says to the Black woman apprentice, “I don’t know if you’ve been noticing, but when I clean, I put a little stank on it. Maybe when we stack these we should put a little stank on them too” Just a little bit more, you know? .
At .031 in this video a yellow note appears on the screen with this definition: “Putting “stank” on it means to add personal flair to the task at hand”
Around .033 Sal (the White man pretending to be the boss) asks Mrr “What did you stank?”
While the Black woman stands listening and cleaning something she is holding in her hand, he responds putting to various objects saying “I stanked that, I stanked that and I haven’t stank.”
The Black woman reacted to the White men’s use of the word “stank” with a fixed smile (or
smirk) which might have been part bemusement and part tolerance for the situation she
finds herself in as if to say “Let me just do my work, get paid, and get away
from these wacked out White men who don’t even know what “put some stank on it”
means.
Notice that the "stank" in the sentence "put some stank on it" is a noun while "stanked" in the last sentence from that episode that I quoted are verbs. The word "stank" in the last sentence of that quoted episode is a past tense of the word "stink" and, as such, doesn't have anything to do with the contemporary meaning of "put some stank on it".
Here's part of a comment exchange from this video's discussion thread (Numbers added for referencing purposes only)
1. THE COMMENT DOGGO, 2019
"What in the world is that thing, that murr is wiping?"
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Reply
2. Alexander Jones, 2019
"whatever it is.... it now has some stank on it"
Reply
3. THE COMMENT DOGGO, 2019
"You!
Ya you!!
S T A N K"
MY COMMENTS ABOUT THIS EPISODE
This
"Accidentally" here means that the person giving this definition doesn't know that African American Vernacular English(AAVE) meaning of that term/saying or doesn't understand the African American meaning that they read of heard for that term/saying. "Purposely" here means that the person knowingly changed that earlier (AAVE) definition.
I think that the change from the African American definition for "put some stank on it" probably occurred because people who aren't African American didn't (don't) understand what was/is meant by adding some soulful elements or more soulful elements to the way that a person dances, sings, plays a musical instrument and/or engages in other performing activities.
I have to concur with at least one person in that video's discussion thread who wrote that he (or she) didn't consider that episode to be funny (I'm referring here to both the "put some stank on it" portion of the episode and another portion in which Mrr's boss Sal hides his asthma inhaler and whispers to the apprentice not to tell him where it is.) By the way, given the racial dynamics in the United States (and elsewhere) and given the fact that the vernacular saying "put some stank on it" and the vernacular noun "stank" originated in and are most closely associated with African Americans, I believe that observers of this episode would have had a different experience and interpretations of this episode if the apprentice wasn't Black.
Furthermore, the fact that the apprentice wasn't named and didn't say anything was a turn off for me. But then again, I'm not a fan of the whole concept of that television show as I've never liked practical jokes. So there's that.
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