What "Put Some Stank On It" REALLY Means ("Impractical Jokers: Inside Jokes - Put Some Stank On It | truTV")

truTVJun 5, 2019

Murr teaches the new apprentice how to add stank to her cleaning routine. #truTV #Insidejokes
-snip-
This segment is from .021-.034 in that video.

****
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".

****
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
-snip-
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.

****
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"
-snip-
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?"

**
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 Impractical Jokers: Inside Jokes - Put Some Stank On It | truTV episode is an example of how people from mainstream (White) community can accidentally or on purpose attribute another  definition for an African American originated term or saying. 

"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.

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome. 

How "Funky" Came To Mean Something Good (African American Vernacular English Meanings)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision- Nov. 19, 2020

This is the first of a three part pancocojams series about the word "funk". Part I provides information and comments about the Latin etymology and the Kongolese etymology for the word "funk". That post also provides several definitions for the word "funk" and the word "funky".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/02/main-source-fakin-funk-remix-hip-hop.html for Part II of this series. Part II features a video and lyrics of the Hip-Hop song "Fakin The Funk" (remix) by Main Source. That post also includes my comments about the meanings of certain terms that are found in that song's lyrics.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/02/what-dont-fake-funk-on-nasty-dunk.html for Part III of this series.

Part III presents comments about the meaning of the saying "Don't Fake The Funk On A Nasty Dunk" and includes a video of a commercial in which Shaquille O'Neil uses that saying.

The content of this post is presented for linguistic and cultural reasons.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

****
AFRICAN & AFRICAN AMERICAN ORIGINS AND MEANINGS OF "FUNK", "FUNKY", AND "PUT SOME STANK ON IT"[revised Nov. 18, 2020]
Here are two schools of thought about the etymology of the word "funk", "funky", and "put some stank on it". These quotes are numbered for referencing purposes only. Previously I wrote that "I've numbered and labeled these schools of thought giving preference to the one that I feel is the most valid (recognizing that others may disagree)." However, in re-reading these quotes (on Nov. 19, 2020), I believe both of these theories about the origin of the African American Vernacular English origins and meaning of the word "funky" are equally valid.

I. Etymology For "Funk" #1: Kongolese (African) source
Excerpt #1: From http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17228/where-does-funk-and-or-funky-come-from-and-why-the-musical-reference [Hereafter given as "stackexchange: funk/funky"], Callithumpian, edited Mar 22 '11 at 12:19
..."Yale art historian Robert Farris Thompson has posited an African origin to the musical use of funky. Here is an expanded quote from his 1984 work, Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy:

The slang term 'funky' in black communities originally referred to strong body odor, and not to 'funk,' meaning fear or panic. The black nuance seems to derive from the Ki-Kongo lu-fuki, 'bad body odor,' and is perhaps reinforced by contact with fumet, 'aroma of food and wine,' in French Louisiana. But the Ki-Kongo word is closer to the jazz word 'funky' in form and meaning, as both jazzmen and Bakongo use 'funky' and lu-fuki to praise persons for the integrity of their art, for having 'worked out' to achieve their aims. In Kongo today it is possible to hear an elder lauded in this way: 'like, there is a really funky person!--my soul advances toward him to receive his blessing (yati, nkwa lu-fuki! Ve miela miami ikwenda baki). Fu-Kiau Bunseki, a leading native authority on Kongo culture, explains: 'Someone who is very old, I go sit with him, in order to feel his lu-fuki, meaning, I would like to be blessed by him.' For in Kongo the smell of a hardworking elder carries luck. This Kongo sign of exertion is identified with the positive energy of a person. Hence, 'funk' in black American jazz parlance can mean earthiness, a return to fundamentals."

-snip-
In the context of this quote "having worked out" means to exert yourself so hard (to put so much of yourself into your actions) that you sweat, and therefore smell earthy. "Earthy" is a smell that is considered "stinky" (odorous), but it is proof that you "returned to fundamentals". Another way of saying "returned to fundamentals" is that "You got down to the real nitty gritty" (the essence, the heart and soul of the matter".

Also, theoretically, people who "have returned to fundamentals" don't mind how they smell or look. At that point, they aren't pretending to be sophisticated, or formal, or something that they aren't. Instead, they are "being for real" (They're the "real deal"). This meaning is the source of the phrase "Don't fake the funk" = Don't pretend to be something that you're not.

More comments about "Don't fake the funk" are found in Part II and Part III of this series.
-snip-
Excerpt #2: Focus on the African American Vernacular English phrase "put some stank into it"
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk#Etymology
..."In early jam sessions, musicians would encourage one another to "get down" by telling one another, "Now, put some stank on it!". At least as early as 1907, jazz songs carried titles such as Funky. The first example is an unrecorded number by Buddy Bolden remembered as either "Funky Butt" or "Buddy Bolden's Blues" with improvised lyrics that were, according to Donald M. Marquis either "comical and light" or "crude and downright obscene" but, in one way or another, referring to the sweaty atmosphere at dances where Bolden's band played."
-snip-
One meaning of the word "stank" is the past tense of the verb "stink". However, in African American English "stank" was and is still a noun that means "to stink really bad." "Stank", like "funky" can be something that is considered very good or very bad (not good).

Telling musicians to "Put some stank on it" means to play music in such a way that dancers go all out (or, to use another African American vernacular phrase "go all in") to the extent that they become soaked with their sweat, and therefore stink. That dancers sweating as a result of their exertions is a sign that the music has touched their soul (the music is soulful).

****
UPDATE: February 5, 2015
A comment about the official video for Sean Paul's "Get Busy" record https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmxD7jDuPR0 serves as a perfect example for the source* of the African American English meaning of the word "funky":

AmericanRattlesnake, 2011
"i love this song but damn it must stink in there with all that ass shaking in such a crowded little room."
-snip-
Click html http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/02/black-house-parties-then-now-part-ii.html "Black House Parties Then & Now (Part II: Sean Paul's "Get Busy" Video)" for a pancocojams post on that video.

****
II. Etymology For "Funk" #2: Latin (European) source
Excerpt #1:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk#Etymology
"The word funk initially referred (and still refers) to a strong odor. It is originally derived from Latin "fumigare" (to smoke) via Old French "fungiere" and, in this sense, first documented in English in 1620. In 1784 "funky" meaning "musty" is first documented, which, in turn, led to a sense of "earthy" that was taken up around 1900 in early jazz slang for something deeply or strongly felt.[4][5][6]"

****
Excerpt #2:
From http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=funky
"funky (adj.) ..."old, musty," in reference to cheeses, then "repulsive," from funk (n.2) + -y (2). It began to develop an approving sense in jazz slang c.1900, probably on the notion of "earthy, strong, deeply felt." Funky also was used early 20c. by white writers in reference to body odor allegedly peculiar to blacks. The word reached wider popularity c.1954 (it was defined in "Time" magazine, Nov. 8, 1954) and in the 1960s acquired a broad slang sense of "fine, stylish, excellent."funk (n.2) Look up funk at Dictionary.com"bad smell," 1620s, probably from the verb funk in the sense "blow smoke upon; stifle with offensive vapor" (though this is not recorded until later 17c.). It is from dialectal French funkière "to smoke," from Old French fungier "give off smoke; fill with smoke," from Latin fumigare "to smoke" (see fume (n.)).

Not considered to be related to obsolete funk (n.) "a spark," mid-14c., fonke, a general Germanic word (compare Dutch vonk, Old High German funcho, German Funke. The Middle English word is probably from Low German or from an unrecorded Old English form.

In reference to a style of music felt to have a strong, earthy quality, it is attested by 1959, a back-formation from funky (q.v.)."
-snip-
FumbleFingers, writing in "stackexchange:funk/funky" on Mar 21 '11 at 15:06 also indicates that African American musicians "co-opted" (took, borrowed) the "stinking" meaning of "funk" from Latin sources:
"funky originally meant pungent / earthy, with relatively positive associations to "passive" qualities such as the smell of a cheese, which just sits there mouldering away. Since being co-opted into jazz slang it's acquired the more "active" overtones of actual movement in the sense of lively, rootsy, etc. (funky music encourages dancing & foot-tapping)."
-snip-
I'm not convinced that the Latin meaning for "funk" preceded the Kongolese meaning of "funk" among Black folks in the United States.

****
"FUNKY" REFERRING TO FASHION SENSE
From http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=funky, Sissy J. Depp February 25, 2005
funky 
"Unconventionally modern and stylish.

****
From http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=funky, Steagles February 12, 2006
funky
1. Something thats cool or admirable (this usage has fallen out of popularity)
2. A bad smell, normally an odor of pubic must*

. Whoa, baby, you smell funky (compliment in 1976)
2. Whoa, baby, you smell funky (NOT a compliment in 2006)
-snip-
The word "must" is probably a typo for "musk".

****
From http://www.yourdictionary.com/funky
"Funky
adjective
1.The definition of funky is something that smells bad or it is something artistic, modern, unconventional or cool.

a.Old smelly socks are an example of something that would be described as funky.
b.The cool, hip apartment of a young artist is an example of something that would be described as funky."

****
FUNK MUSIC
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk
"Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when African-American musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul music, jazz, and rhythm and blues (R&B). Funk de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bass line played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a drummer. Like much of African-inspired music, funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves. Funk uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths.

Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure ("The One"), and the application of swung 16th notes and syncopation on all bass lines, drum patterns, and guitar riffs.[2] Other musical groups, including Sly and the Family Stone, the Meters, and Parliament-Funkadelic, soon began to adopt and develop Brown's innovations. While much of the written history of funk focuses on men, there have been notable funk women, including Chaka Khan, Labelle, Lyn Collins, Brides of Funkenstein, Klymaxx, Mother's Finest, and Betty Davis."...
-snip-
The words that are written in italics were given that way in this article.

****
This concludes Part I of this series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.