Hokey Pokey

See also: hokey-pokey and hokey pokey

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Unknown, compare the earlier-attested names for similar group circle dances from which the modern dance seems to have evolved, hinkumbooby from the 19th century and hankin booby from the 16th.

Noun

Hokey Pokey

(US, Canada, Australia, preceded by definite article) A group dance performed in a circle, in which people move a variety of their body parts in and out of the middle, and shake them about.
- 2008 June 19, Peter Applebome, “At 91, He Isn’t Ready for the Last Dance Just Yet”, in New York Times‎^[1]:
  So he choreographs each event depending on the crowd, starting with something to learn the drill, like “Marching Through Georgia,” working in something to loosen people up like the hokeypokey, and probably a contra dance (long lines, not squares) like the Virginia reel.

Synonyms

Hokey Cokey (UK)
hokey tokey