FEATURE
FEATURE
SEARCHING FOR
Squonk
WHERE DID THIS STRANGE WORD COME FROM ?
While working on the last issue of the magazine , Vapouround ’ s Creative Director , James Parnell , came into the journalists ’ office with a request – would one of us write a few words on squonking ? I ’ ll be honest – I had no idea what he was on about . It sounded like the kind of task the work experience kid would be tricked into doing , like shopping for ‘ tartan paint ’ or asking the lads in the supply room for some ‘ sky hooks .’ Even after he explained what squonking was he couldn ’ t answer the big question that was puzzling me . Why ‘ squonking ’? It ’ s such an odd word – was it pulled out of thin air or did it reference something in particular ? Maybe it was a portmanteau like ‘ spork ’. Wonky squeezing ? I watched a few videos of squonking in action to see if I could find any answers but , alas , no joy . I probably should have moved on and done something more productive with my time but I just couldn ’ t let it rest . I had to find out where the word came from . It turns out that the word ‘ squonk ’ has been around for a while , certainly well before electronic cigarettes came to be . In the book Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods , With a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts published in 1910 , William T . Cox described a mythical ‘ fearsome critter ’ that could be found in the forests of northern Pennsylvania . The squonk would hide from view , weeping in shame of its unsightly , sagging , wart-covered skin . People attempting to catch squonks would be foiled by their unique defence mechanism - they would dissolve into a bubbly puzzle of tears , as described in the song ‘ Squonk ’ by Genesis , which appeared on their 1976 album , A Trick of the Tail . Other than Squonk Opera , a group of performing artists from Pittsburgh ( home of the aforementioned mythical squonk ), I could find very few references to squonks or squonking outside of vaping . The Urban Dictionary offered some interesting suggestions , such as South African slang for ‘ misaligned ’ or ‘ off-centre ’ and the sound a novice makes when attempting to play certain instruments for the first time ( halfway through a squawk and a honk ). Plus , there were a handful of definitions not suitable to print in this esteemed publication . Part of me wanted to believe that the squonk of obscure American folklore inspired the vape term . Something to do with the mod hiding the bottle like the squonk hides from view . Sadly , that was not the case . It turns out that my ‘ wonking squeezing ’ idea wasn ’ t too far off . To quote e-cigarette-forum . com user Jack Murray who coined the term back in 2010 : “ The link between the juice bottle and the atty has a great seal and it just squonks the juice right up in there every time you give it a squeeze ”. So there you have it . You squeeze the bottle , the bottle squonks the liquid . Cased closed .
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