What Is The Origin Of The Word Twerk

When did the word twerk start?  This all started during the 5 O' Clock Bomboocha today, we had a request for Lil Jon Get Low.  During the song, Tommy the Hacker stepped away form the turn-tables and was like, "dude, did they just say twerk"?  I was like, "ya, it's been around since like the late 90's I think".  My brain couldn't drop the subject, so I scanned the web to find the origin of the word.  To my surprise, it's been around even longer than the 1990's!

According to Wikipedia, twerk got started in the United States in 1982 by way of the New Orleans bounce music scene.  After over a decade, it showed up in song lyrics and began increasing in popularity.

"Comparisons have been made with traditional African dances,^[3] for instance the Mapouka from West Africa which was banned from Ivory Coast's television due to its suggestive nature.^[4] Twerking can carry both gendered and racialized connotations.^[5] In the United States, twerking was introduced into hip-hop culture by way of the New Orleans bounce music scene. In 1982 the twerk was first performed on live television in the Top of the Pops show by the group Haysi Fantayzee while performing their song John Wayne Is Big Leggy.

In 1993, DJ Jubilee recorded the dance tune "Do The Jubilee All" in which he chanted, "Twerk baby, twerk baby, twerk, twerk, twerk."^[6] The video for the song increased the popularity of twerking.

In 1995 New Orleans-based rapper Cheeky Blakk recorded the song "Twerk Something!" a call-and-response dance song dedicated to twerking. In 1997 DJ Jubilee recorded "Get Ready, Ready" in which he encouraged listeners to "Twerk it!"

In the year 2000, the Ying Yang Twins pushed the word into national recognition when they recorded Whistle While You Twerk.

"Twerking first received national recognition in the United States in the early 2000s, when the song "Whistle While You Twurk" (2000) by the hip hop duo Ying Yang Twins peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs component chart."

Twerk was added to the Oxford Dictionary Online in 2013, and the word remains alive and well as we can all see...