Make Your Point > Archived Issues > SKUNKWORKS
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Above, a panel from the comic strip Li'l Abner, a popular one that ran for decades, starting in 1935. Note the lines wafting stinkily from the Skonk Works, the mysterious backwoods factory where Big Barnsmell manufactured skonk oil. Actually, sources conflict here; it may have been Injun Joe making kickapoo joy juice. Regardless, it involved old shoes and, naturally, skunks. To what end? We don't know.
Now flash forward to World War II, when a secret team of engineers at Lockheed took to an outdoor tent next to a stinky plastics factory to develop the XP-80 Shooting Star jet. These engineers, inspired by Li'l Abner, referred to their tent--and their secret group--as the Skonk Works. Then they dodged a copyright issue by changing it to Skunk Works.
Skunk Works still operates under a registered trademark at Lockheed. But, along with terms like Kleenex, Popsicle, Super Glue, Bubble Wrap, and Photoshop, the term Skunk Works entered the popular lexicon as a more general term. Today, you can call any secret project or secret subgroup of workers "the skunkworks." When you do, I hope you enjoy a nostalgic chuckle at the term's comic-strip origin.
Speaking of comic strips that inspired new words, see if you can recall a noun that arose from a comic called The Timid Soul. It starts with M and means "a weak, timid, feeble person."
make your point with...
"SKUNKWORKS"
Within a larger group or company, the skunkworks are a small group of people working secretly on new, special, advanced projects. The skunkworks can also be the place where those people work.
Pronunciation:
SKUNK works
Part of speech:
It's usually a noun: "their skunkworks," "the company's skunkworks," "we got to visit the skunkworks."
It can also be used loosely like an adjective: "the skunkworks staff," "these skunkworks inventions."
Other forms:
It can appear as two words: "skunk works." (Other than that, there are no other forms besides the registered trademark "Skunk Works," with the capital letters.)
How to use it:
Use this folksy, colorful, casual term to label the secret projects, secret teams, or secret offices in any large corporation, real or fictional, especially those in the engineering and technology industries.
examples:
"CEOs with a long-range view knew that if even 10% of their skunkworks and laboratory inventions could be brought to market someday, the R&D was well worth the effort."
— Douglas Rushkoff, The Guardian, 22 November 2000
"[In his book The Mastermind,] Ratliff anatomizes an operation — traversing shell corporations, safe houses, precious metal stashes and an in-house skunkworks staffed by Romanian engineers functioning as a pop-up military contractor — that trafficked coveted North Korean methamphetamine, peddled an explosives recipe to Iran, sought to produce a guidance system for Iranian missiles and mocked up a mini-submarine for stealthy transit of contraband."
— Stephen Phillips, The Los Angeles Times, 15 February 2019
has this page helped you understand "skunkworks"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "skunkworks" without saying "secret subgroup" or "secret projects."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "Behind closed doors, the skunkworks are (creating, building, or unraveling) _____."
Example: "In Season Four, behind closed doors, the skunkworks are building 'Adam,' a biomechanical demonoid, a weapon in the form of a man/monster/technology/Frankenstein thing. Then they're totally surprised to be skewered by it the moment it gains consciousness."
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
Our game this month is "Big Bang Thicket."
In each issue, hack your way through the polysyllabic title of an episode of The Big Bang Theory, and use your knowledge of vocabulary to answer the question about what happens in that episode.
From the previous issue:
In "The Brain Bowl Incubation," do Amy and Sheldon grow or destroy some brain cells?
Answer:
They grow them. To incubate something is to keep it warm so it can hatch--or to give it the best possible conditions so it can develop.
Try this one today:
In "The Long Distance Dissonance," as Amy and Sheldon spend a summer apart, does the distance add excitement or a sour note to their romance?
review this word:
1. A near opposite of SKUNKWORKS is
A. GATEKEEPERS.
B. MUSICAL CHAIRS.
C. MAIN OPERATIONS.
2. Her work at the company had been so _____ that, after only a few months, she found herself _____ the skunkworks.
A. atrocious .. out on
B. stellar .. heading up
C. mediocre .. relegated to
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Above, a panel from the comic strip Li'l Abner, a popular one that ran for decades, starting in 1935. Note the lines wafting stinkily from the Skonk Works, the mysterious backwoods factory where Big Barnsmell manufactured skonk oil. Actually, sources conflict here; it may have been Injun Joe making kickapoo joy juice. Regardless, it involved old shoes and, naturally, skunks. To what end? We don't know. Within a larger group or company, the skunkworks are a small group of people working secretly on new, special, advanced projects. The skunkworks can also be the place where those people work.
"CEOs with a long-range view knew that if even 10% of their skunkworks and laboratory inventions could be brought to market someday, the R&D was well worth the effort."
Explain the meaning of "skunkworks" without saying "secret subgroup" or "secret projects."
Fill in the blanks: "Behind closed doors, the skunkworks are (creating, building, or unraveling) _____."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A near opposite of SKUNKWORKS is
|