mill hunky

plural mill hunkies · alternative mill-hunky

1. PennsylvaniaWesternderogatoryethnichistoricalslurchiefly Pittsburgh areaA blue-collar immigrant steel mill worker, usually of Eastern European heritage.

   One minute he was a mill Hunky from Beaver County, the next he was a tycoon. The most successful Polish American in the history of the U.S.

   2006, Kuzneski, Chris, Sign of the cross, page 30

   2 more examples

   It is sad to hear people refer to themselves as a “dumb hillbilly coal miner”, or “just an ordinary mill-hunky”. Every person who has spent a lifetime contributing to the organization’s growth deserves to have a well-developed attitude toward themselves, regardless of the level of, of education or their station in life.

   1995, Armstrong, William W., “Revitalizing the Work Ethic”, in Catalytic management : success by design, page 100

   Thinking O’Toole was some uneducated, dumb mill hunky they could walk all over, the Company representatives said, “Whatever, we don’t care.”

   2020, Stout, Mike, Homestead Steel Mill, page 96