(2)
To hit, strike, collide etc; any minor collision or blow.
(3)
In slang, a brief intimacy between two people, usually with a suggestion of
infidelity; often modified with the adjective quick and only ever used where
the act is consensual (less common in North America).
(4)
In sports medicine, a condition of sudden, severe fatigue in an endurance
sports event, typically induced by glycogen depletion (also in the phrase “hit
the wall”).
(5)
In snowboarding, to hit something with the front of the board, especially in
midair.
(6) In zoology, an animal
call resembling "bonk" (such as the call of the pobblebonk (any of
various Australian frogs of the genus Limnodynastes)).
1931: A creation of Modern English, the origin remains uncertain but most suspect it was likely imitative of
sounds of impact (like bong, bump, bounce or bang) and thus onomatopoetic. As a slang term for an affaire de coeur, use was first noted in 1975 and has always,
depending on context, carried an implication of something illicit or quickly done;
purely recreational though always consensual.
The use in sports medicine describing the condition of glycogen depletion references a metaphorical impact as in
“hitting the wall”, the first known use in 1952 in endurance sports medicine. Bonkee,
as a descriptor for a "woman of loose virtue", appears to have been a 2014
creation which never caught on which is a shame because there are all sorts of cases where the companion terms "bonker" & "bonkee" might have been handy . The form "bonkers", referring to the deranged, dated from circa 1957 and was apparently unrelated to the earlier naval slang for “drunk” but alluded rather to what could be the the consequence of a “bonk on the head”. The third-person singular simple present is bonks, the present participle, bonking and the simple past and past participle, bonked. Bonk & bonking are nouns & verbs, bonker is a noun, bonky is an adjective, bonked is a verb and bonkers is a noun & adjective; the noun plural is bonks.

Bonkers: "Last Call" 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 in "plum crazy" (one of the retro colors which reprised those used by Chrysler in the "psychedelic era" of the late 1960s). Some 3300 were produced (one of the many batches in Dodges "Last Call" programme), many of which soon were advertised for sale at well above the MRRP (manufacturer's retail price) and many are believed to have been placed in long-term storage. The yellow
plastic fittings were installed to prevent damage during shipping to
dealers. The factory didn't envisage
them becoming consumer items so they were described, prosaically, as “splitter
guards” but leaving them attached after purchase became a cult and some cars
were even retro-fitted, despite dealers cautioning the pieces weren't
specifically molded to ensure a perfect fit so dirt and moisture were prone to
being trapped in the gaps and this could scuff the paint. They were referred to also as “damage guards”
and “scuff guards” but the more imaginative dubbed them “underwires” and this
is believed the first time that term entered the large lexicon of automotive
slang.
The Demon 170 was released as part of Dodge’s “Last Call” programme which marked the end of the corporation's run of high-performance V8s for passenger cars, a tradition dating from 1950 when the first 331 cubic inch (5.4 litre) "Firepower" (soon to be fetishized as "Hemi") V8 debuted. Offered in a bewildering array of configurations in a process which was something like Nellie Melba's (1861-1931) "farewell" tours, the SRT Demon 170 was reckoned the most bonkers of a generally bonkers lot. Rated at 1,025 hp (764 kW), the factory claimed it could accelerate from 0-60 mph (100 km/h) in 1.66 seconds with an elapsed time in the standing ¼ mile (402 metres for those who insist) of 8.91 seconds (terminal speed 151 mph (243 km/h)), setting the mark as the worlds quickest ever standard production car, a reasonable achievement for something weighing 4275 lbs (1939 kg). By world standards it was also very cheap and on the basis of cost-breakdown vs performance, there was nothing like it on the planet. In British (and other English-speaking regions although rare in the US) use, "bonkers" can and often is used in an entirely non-pejorative way to suggest something or someone verging on the irrational but in some way astonishing, admirable or inspiring. Road cars with 600+ horsepower V8 & V12 engines are of course bonkers but we'll miss them when they're gone and it would seem the end is nigh. Greta Thunberg (b 2003) has expressed no regret at the looming extinction of this species.
Bonking Boris

Hand-turned fish
bonkers on sale in Jaffray, a village in the south-western Canadian province of
British Columbia (left) and the front page of The Sun (7 September 2018; right), a tabloid which rarely avoids an alluringly attractive alliterative alternative.
The
noun bonker describes (1) a short, blunt hardwood club used by fisherpersons efficiently to
dispatch (ie bonking them dead) just-caught fish or (2) according to the Murdoch tabloid The Sun, the adulterous Boris Johnson (b 1964; UK prime-minister 2019-2022). A bonk by Boris or the club and a not wholly dissimilar
outcome ensues; a one-time employer called bonking Boris "ineffably duplicitous" and the
estranged (now former) Mrs Johnson presumably agreed. At the time, the former prime minister had "a bit of previous" in extra-marital bonking and when this one was announced, it was with an alliterative flourish not seen since the headline “BORIS BACKS BREXIT”. His resignation from Theresa May's (Lady May, b 1956; UK prime-minister 2016-2019) government was unrelated to bonking (as far as is known) and came, in July
2018, three days after a cabinet meeting at Chequers (the prime-minister's country house), where agreement was
reached on Mrs May’s Brexit strategy, a document compromised by the
need to make a nonsensical impossibility look like good policy. That can be done but it requires rare skill to be in 10 Downing Street and it's been some time since that could be said.
Freed by his resignation from the burdens of the Foreign Office, bonking Boris was clearly unconcerned at rumors his opponents in the party were assembling a dossier of some 4,000 words detailing his cheating ways, fondness for cocaine & failings of character and turned his attention to a campaign for the Tory leadership. As wonderfully unpredictable as the politics of the time were fluid, nobody was quite sure whether he’d go into the inevitable election or second referendum as "leave" or "remain"; it would depend on this and that. In the end, he remained a leaver and things worked out well, his election victory meaning that for one, brief, shining moment, the three world leaders with the best hair all had their own nuclear weapons at the same time.

Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021 and since 2025; left), Boris Johnson (centre) and Kim Jong-un (Kim III, b 1982; Supreme Leader of DPRK (Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea)) since 2011; right).
Some hairstyles are more amenable than others to a quick post-bonk fix. Kim Jong-un's cut is probably quite good and would bounce back from a bonk with little more than a run-through with the fingers although he may have in his entourage an army general as "designated comber". Donald Trump however would likely need both tools and product for a post-bonk fix, ideally performed by an expert hairdresser. Mr Trump usually appears well-fixed unless disturbed by breezes higher than 2 on the Beaufort scale and all but the most perfunctory bonks probably are equal to at least 4 on the scale so it would have been interesting to see if Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Gregory, b 1979) lived up to her (stage) name although Mr Trump has denied that bonk ever happened. Ms Daniels' testimony did include a mention of giving him a bonk on the butt with a rolled-up magazine (one with his picture on the cover!) and that at least had a ring of truth. Mr Johnson's hair so often looks post-bonk that either his conquests are more frequent even than has been rumored or he orders a JBF with every cut. One UK publication suggested exactly that, hinting his instruction was "not one hair in place". That has the advantage for Mr Johnson in that it's a style essentially the same pre-bonk, mid-bonk and post-bonk and thus pricelessly ambiguous in that merely by looking at him, one couldn't tell if he was going to or coming from a bonk although, one assumes, whichever it was, a bonk would never be far from his mind. Whatever
the criticisms of Mr Johnson's premiership (and there were a few), it's to his
eternal credit that in his resignation honours list Ms Kelly Jo Dodge (for 27
years the parliamentary hairdresser) was created a Member of the Most Excellent
Order of the British Empire (MBE) for “parliamentary
service”. Over those decades, she
can have faced few challenges more onerous than Mr Johnson’s hair yet never
once failed to make it an extraordinary example in the (actually technically
difficult) “not one hair in place”
style known colloquially in her profession as the JBF. Few honours have been so well deserved and
more illustrious decorations have been pinned on many who have done less for
the nation.
In being
granted a gong Ms Dodge fared better than another parliamentary
hairdresser. Between 1950-1956, the
speaker of the Australian House of Representatives (the lower house) was Archie
Cameron (1895–1956) and in some aspects his ways seemed almost un-Australian:
he didn’t drink, smoke, swear or gamble.
Not approving of anything to do with the turf, he ordered the removal from
the wall of the Parliament House barber’s salon a print of racehorse Phar Lap (1926–1932,
the thoroughbred which won the 1930 Melbourne Cup) and later served notice on
the barber to quit the building, Cameron suspecting (on hard & fast grounds)
he was a SP (starting price) bookie.
Before state-run T.A.B.s (Totalisator Agency Board) were in the 1960s established
to regulate such activities, SP bookies were a popular (and convenient) way to undertake
off course betting and, like Phar Lap, they were born in New Zealand, the first
operating there in 1949.
While in some
ways not stereotypically Australian, other parts of his character made Cameron
a quintessential of the type. Once, when
displeased by one member’s conduct on the floor of the house, he demanded he
bow to the chair and apologize. Not satisfied
with the response, he told the transgressor he needed to bow lower and when asked
how low was required, replied: “How low can you go?” As speaker he exercised great power over what
went on in the building and insisted on dress standards being maintained
although he didn’t adhere to his own rules, on hot days often wandering the
corridors in shorts and a singlet; the parliamentary cleaning staff were said
to resent the habit, fearing that visitors might mistake him for a cleaner and “damage their
prestige”.

Official
portrait of Speaker Cameron in the traditional horsehair wig and robes of
office. The wig was the one Dr HV Evatt
(1894–1965; leader of opposition 1951-1960) had worn while a judge (1930-1940)
of the High Court of Australia (HCA) and Cameron wasn’t best pleased about that
but it had been presented to the parliament and no other was available so
Cameron “contented
himself by reflecting that ‘it was time some straight thinking was done under
this wig’.”
Upon election in 1949, the
prime-minister (Sir Robert Menzies (1894–1978; prime-minister of Australia
1939-1941 & 1949-1966) apparently shuddered at the thought of a “loose
cannon” like Cameron in cabinet or on the backbench so appointed him speaker,
despite being warned by the respected Frank Clifton Green (1890–1974; clerk of
the House of Representatives (Australia) 1937-1955) that Cameron’s habit of
being “…so
consistently wrong with such complete conviction that he was right” made
him “the worst possible choice” for
the role.” On hearing of his nomination,
old Ben Chifley (1885–1951; prime minister of Australia 1945-1949) predicted “He’ll either be
the best speaker ever or the worst”, concluding a few months later: “I think he’s
turned out to be the bloody worst.” Once
installed, he made himself a fixture and one not easily dislodged. Although it was in the Westminster system
common for speaker to resign if a house voted a dissent from one of their
rulings, Cameron suffered five successful motions of dissent against his
rulings, one of them moved by the prime-minister himself. As one member later recounted: “He just shrugged
his shoulders and carried on. He couldn’t
care less whether the house supported him or not. Archie liked being speaker and intended to
keep the job.” Keep it he did, dying in office in
1956. Green summed him up as “…a queer mixture
of generosity, prejudice and irresponsibility” and many noted the parliament
became a more placid place after he quit the world.

A bandaged Lindsay Lohan waking dazed and confused after a bonk on the head in Falling for Christmas (2022; left) and on the move in Irish Wish (2024).
In
May 2021, Netflix & Lindsay Lohan executed what became a three movie deal,
the first (Falling for Christmas) released in the northern winter of 2022, just
in time for the season. She played the protagonist,
a pampered heiress who loses her memory after suffering a bonk on the head,
waking up to a new life. The second Netflix
release opens in February 2024 and in Irish Wish, the plotline involves her spontaneously
wishing for something, subsequently waking up to find the wish granted. So it’s a variation on the
theme of the first (though without the bonk on the head), the twist being in
the theme of “be careful what you wish for”.
Bonking Barnaby and the bonk ban
Malcolm Turnbull (b 1954; prime-minister of Australia 2015-2018), a student of etymology, was as fond as those at The Sun of alliteration and when writing his memoir (A Bigger Picture (2020)) he included a short chapter entitled "Barnaby and the bonk ban". As well as the events which lent the text it's title, the chapter was memorable for his inclusion of perhaps the most vivid thumbnail sketch of Barnaby Joyce (b 1967; thrice (between local difficulties) deputy prime minister of Australia 2016-2022) yet penned:
"Barnaby is a complex, intense, furious personality. Red-faced, in full flight he gives the impression he's about to explode. He's highly intelligent, often good-humoured but also has a dark and almost menacing side - not unlike Abbott (Tony Abbott (b 1957; prime-minister of Australia 2013-2015)) - that seems to indicate he wrestles with inner troubles and torments."

Mr Turnbull and Mr Joyce in parliament, House of Representatives, Canberra, ACT.
The substantive matter was the revelation in mid-2017 the press had become aware Mr Joyce (a married man with four daughters) was (1) conducting an affair with a member of his staff and (2) the young lady was with child. Mr Turnbull recorded that when asked, Mr Joyce denied both "rumors", which does sound a lie but, in the narrow, technical sense, may have verged on "the not wholly implausible" on the basis that, as he pointed out in a later television interview, the question of paternity was at the time “...a bit of a grey area”. Mr Joyce and his mistress later married and now have two children so all's well that end's well (at least for the adulterous couple) and Mr Turnbull didn't so much shut the gate after the horse had bolted as install inter-connecting doors between the stables. His amendments to the Australian Ministerial Code of Conduct (an accommodating document very much in the spirit of Lord Castlereagh's (1769–1822; UK foreign secretary 1812-1822) critique of the Holy Alliance) banned ministers from bonking their staff which sounds uncontroversial but was silent on them bonking the staff of the minister in the office down the corridor. So the net effect was probably positive in that staff having affairs with their ministerial boss would (through a rapid inter-departmental transfer), gain experience through cross-exposure to other portfolio areas although there's the obvious moral hazard they might be tempted to conduct trysts just to engineer a transfer in the hope of career advancement. There are worse reasons for having an affair and a bonk for a new job seems a small price to pay; it's been done before. In a sense, Mr Joyce was a victim because when rugby union (and other codes) player Israel Folau (b 1989) in 2019 posted on social media a list of those God condemns to Hell which included “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters”, while there was strident support for the gay community, despite the mention of “adulterers” and “drunks” being obviously and blatantly an attack on Mr Joyce's character, not a whisper was heard in his defence.

Bonk in progress, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, May 2024.
Bonk
in the sense of “a blow to the head” was in May 2024 adapted for use in memes
and other publicity tools associated with the protests staged on US university campuses
demanding the institutions’ administrators divest from economic and other engagements
with Israel and in support of the cause of the Palestinian people for
(variously) statehood or freedom from repression. The scenes were reminiscent of Vietnam War
era protests but the emergence of the water-cooler jug as an icon of political
dissent was an unexpected moment of levity.
The origin of that was a viral (“bonk,
bonk, bonk”) video clip showing an unidentified protester at the California
State Polytechnic University, Humboldt bonking a uniformed law-enforcement
officer on the helmet with an empty jug (believed to be a capacity of 5 US
gallons (19 litres)) of the type which sits atop a water cooler.

Although recalling the
similarly alliterative “burn baby, burn”
slogan chanted during the Watts race riots in Los Angeles in August 1965, the “bonk, bonk, bonk” was more a symbol of,
if not exactly passive resistance, then certainly something short of actual
violence although in a legal sense it would have been an instance of both assault
and battery as well as other offences.
Around the country, stickers, posters and the inevitable T-shirts
appeared within hours with slogans such as “Water
Jug, Come and Take It” and “This
machine bonks fascists”, a reference to the “THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS” message the left-wing US folk singer
Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) wrote on his guitars.
Whether the water jug (bonking and not) will endure as a symbol of
protest will depend, like many aspects of language, on whether it gains a
sustained critical mass of use.
The "bonk, bonk, bonk" viral video. In the conventional sense, the production values weren't high but that very quality of authenticity accounted for its viral success.