Do You Feel Punk?

Well, do ya, lucky? Sorry. I couldn’t resist. But this post really is about feeling punk. Or what it means to “feel punk.” And, no, it has nothing to do with Clint Eastwood or westerns.

Slang: Feeling Punk

What Does “Feeling Punk” Mean?

“Feeling Punk” means to feel unwell. It’s that middle ground between fully sick and fully well. For example, I’ve heard it used when feeling a bit dizzy or when feeling a bit nauseated.

Sometimes, they say, “Punky” instead of “punk,” but I’ve always heard it used with the verb “feel.” They’ve never just said, “I’m punk,” so “feel” appears to be part of the common use.

Where Does “Feeling Punk” Come From?

This exact phrase is not in any of my phrase origin books, but I did find “punk” in The QPB Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson. That has several definitions for punk. Most of them describe a person rather than an adjective, but one seems applicable:

“punk in the sense of inferior or bad is said to be of 18th-century British origin, deriving from ‘rotting wood’ called punk.”

So this is old slang, and it has mostly died out in common usage. I’m not sure if the phrase “feeling punk” is 18th-century, as well, but the only people I know who do use it are in their 80s. So that should give you an idea that it is not a recent invention.

The idea of punk as a style associated with “young hoodlums” is believed to come from the 1950s, so I would guess that meaning became more popular, causing the “feeling punk” phrase to fall by the wayside.

TL;DR – If you want to feel especially old school, use “feeling punk” or “feeling punky” the next time you don’t quite feel well. Maybe, it’ll come back. At the very least, it could start an interesting conversation.