A.Word.A.Day --skunkworks

A.Word.A.Day

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Dec 30, 2024

This week’s theme
Words coined in comic strips and cartoons

This week’s words
skunkworks
sad sack
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Lower Slobbovia
cromulent

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works hangar
Palmdale, California

Photo: Bernardo Malfitano / Wikimedia

Previous week’s theme
No el

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

I grew up devouring comic books like they were candy, savoring every colorful panel and clever punchline. It was a melting pot of adventures, from India’s Chacha Choudhary (whose brain was said to work faster than a computer) to the swashbuckling exploits of Phantom, the mystifying illusions of Mandrake, and the ever-thoughtful musings of Buz Sawyer. Of all these characters, Buz Sawyer was my favorite -- his sharp wit and reflective nature always kept me coming back for more.

It’s no surprise that comic strips, with their knack for blending humor and relatability, have snuck a few words into the English lexicon. This week, we’ll look at five such words.

Also see, a previous week of words coined in single-panel cartoons.

skunkworks

PRONUNCIATION:

(SKUNGK-wurks)

MEANING:

noun: A small, loosely structured corporate research and development unit or subsidiary formed to foster innovation.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Skonk Works, a fictional facility in Al Capp’s comic strip Li’l Abner that processed dead skunks, old shoes, kerosene, and other odd ingredients. Earliest documented use: 1960.

NOTES:

The term gained real-world application in 1960 when Lockheed used it to describe a secretive unit tasked with developing advanced fighter planes. The facility, located near a plastic factory with an acrid odor, inspired an engineer to nickname it Skonk Works, later adapted to Skunkworks. The term now symbolizes agile, creative problem-solving in corporate or engineering environments.

USAGE:

“The company’s skunkworks, for example, are decentralised to encourage innovation, but its accountants are centralised. ‘We don’t want highly innovative accountants,’ says Motorola’s Mr Canavan.”
Partners in Wealth; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 21, 2006.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. -L.P. Hartley, writer (30 Dec 1895-1972)

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