I done some hunkerin' yesterday

DWFAN said:
Up North we call it dickering. The young-uns don't get it.:)
DW
Click to expand...


Hunkerin' is the position you assume during the final and most intense phase of dickerin.'

It is a given that with old men hunkerin' ain't gonna last long..It's almost a sudden death sityation.:D
 
Any oldtimer knows what hunkering is. The name comes from the old Norse word " Hokra " meaning to squat down. As a youngun I was used to watching Grandpa hunkering down when it came to trading cattle, horses, pigs, and most anything else. It was a cultural thing. Later, I found out trading with Indians, that hunkering is a whiteman's invention and with Indians you don't hunker down, it's disrespectful. You throw down a blanket and each party sits on the blanket facing each other., and you spend 30 minutes, exchanging small gifts and talking about anything except what you came for, which was trading him out of Custer's Colt 45 Auto. with Italian proof marks, etc. The items exchanged were not viewed by the two traders, but by associates you then reported to the traders their opinion of the items. If all were satisified, you high fived and departed with your sought object and a couple of Navaho blankets, with "Made in China" lables, and an empty wallet. Ed.
 
Your story brought a smile to my face and I'm glad that you got that fine old .22. Thanks!

Charlie
 
Yep, Ed is right. Hunkerin' is a time honored method to put the negotiating parties at an equal starting point. It is quickly differentiated from dickerin' which is done in an upright position. Dickerin' is often accompanied by gesturing, rolling the eyes, and an occcasional voice raised in disbelief.

Hunkerin', on the other hand, is done in hushed tones, almost reverently. With the parties not making any moves which the opposition might find threatening to the discussion. As Iggy indicated in his first post, the points scored are mentally tallied, but they are evident to both parties when scored. I would equate it to two old tom cats having a stare down...ultimately one of them knows who is the winner and they separate with no blows being thrown.

For those who haven't seen hunkerin' in person, perhaps some of you who participated in one of the Pacific Rim unpleasantries will recognize the "rice paddy squat" as a derivative. But, like its Asian cousin, hunkerin' isn't to be engaged in by those who haven't done it all their lives or are at least in the early decades of their trading lives. I'd guess that Ed and I are probably in our declining days of hunkerin'. Not that we can't still hunker with the best of 'em, but when the transaction is completed, we have a difficult time in returning to the dickerin' position.

Bob
 
Not that we can't still hunker with the best of 'em, but when the transaction is completed, we have a difficult time in returning to the dickerin' position.


Boy Howdy you got that right!!!:(
 
Iggy, great gun, great story. 1939, too! I have been looking for one of that vintage because I have a flat-face humpback hammer I want to try in one of these guns -- it wouldn't do to put it in an early one because that would be an anachronism and I suffer chronically from a dreadful case of the authenticities.

You would roll your eyes if you ever saw the Beverly Hills dicker, famous in the land of the Porsche and the Rolex.

"Dude, nice gun!"
"Want it? Two grand."
"OK. Do you know what model it is?"

And they head off to the nearest FFL for a private party transfer, where four times out of 10 the deal will fall apart because Buyer has forgotten about the restraining orders two ex-wives filed against him because he tended to get a little unpleasant about their high expenditures when he drinks Veuve Cliquot more than two bottles at a time.

I'm tryin' to be a little subtle here, Iggy, but I just sauntered past your virtual table here at the electronic gun show and lifted an eyebrow when I saw your gun, then nodded appreciatively in your direction. Hope all that came through. But just so you know, I don't live in Beverly Hills. :D

Seriously, I said it all in the first line: great gun, great story.
 
Dave. Thanks for the comments.

I'm afraid I would get tangled up in that BH Dickerin' I think I will stick here Wyoming with the slow thinkin, slow tawkin' cowboys!!:)

Oh, BTW!! That pistol is a sweet shooter. I thinned out a few of the braver ground squirrels at the ranch today.
 
Iggy

you raise hunkerin to a new level of Art form and you are to be congratulated. Where I come from they call it Hankering and we need to do a case study of your method. HaHa
 
LOL Around here, if you get a hankerin' for a S&W, you go to a gun show and if you find one you want, you commence to dicker for it, and in the final throes of negotiation, the two parties may go into the classic hunker.

As far as doing a study on the method. You find two old t'baccy chawin' cowboys doin' a trade on a horse or a herd of cattle and you will see hunkering in it's finest form.

Chawin' t'baccy is another factor limiting the time consumed in a hunker. You got to get things settled before you need to spit. Spittin' during a hunker would be an insult. So you got to make a deal or swaller yure wad. That may have worse ramifications that losing the deal if you know what I mean.:(
 
Per chance, do y'all chew Cannon Ball brand plug tobacco?
That's all I'd chew, as a young teenager...quit after I swallowed some once, and haven't touched it since.

That same ritual is still sometimes practiced at livestock sales here in the south. I saw it happen at the last rodeo I went to, as my neighbor and his sons always compete in the roping. Mrs. Griffith enjoys them a bit more.

I never knew, as long as I lived that "hunker'n" was what you called that type of negotiations- and I've seen it many times.
Thanks for the insight, and great gun!
 
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I once went to a gun show in Wyoming but didn't buy a thing. Now I know why ... I didn't have a full understanding of the nuances involved in hankerin.
 
Thank You for the nice story. I have to admit that I had to scroll down to see if there was a picture before I could finish reading the story. At the last gunshow, ( a few weeks ago ) You see, I had to hunker down too. It was for a good 45 minutes or more, it was for a Smith & Wesson Model 63 I had to hunker down, almost right up to 10:00am. Thats when this dealers store opened. He was waiting so he could call them ( his people ) to see what they had into it, money wise. You see it was taking in on trade. I was like a mother hen sitting on one egg not wanting it to roll away. You see, I saw it in the first 10 to 15 minutes of the show. I walked the rest of that show so fast to get back to him in ten minutes or so. When I got back, somebody else had it there hands. I was scared that I lost it. What do I do, I said to myself. I did nothing but watched. And then it happened, he set it down, and thats when I hunkered down. I picked it up, and it never left my hands. Then he made the call, he gave me the thumbs up. And thats when I knew it was mine. What a good day it was. Box, cleaning kit, and everything.
 
649 Bodyguard

I know what you mean about looking at a gun and coming back to see some one else fondling "your" prize....Been there and done that more than once.
 
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Iggy said:
Hunkerin' is the position you assume during the final and most intense phase of dickerin.'

It is a given that with old men hunkerin' ain't gonna last long..It's almost a sudden death sityation.:D
Click to expand...


If I got down to hunkerin' I do believe someone would have to help me up.:)
DW
 
Thank you for the story ......

....... I did turn blue holding my breath to see if you won out!

I have a post war that gives gray digger squirrels cold sweats .... it's the gun .... NOT ME! ........ so I can relate to those .22's in S&W ....

By comparison ....... your's is an absolute beauty ........ !


(If I see you heading my direction and wearing those spurs .....

........... I'm OUT A THERE!!!!! ............ LOL!)


Three 44s
 
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