Skunkworks, Skonk Works, and comicbook origins

 Via the wordsmith guy:

skunkworks

PRONUNCIATION:

(SKUNGK-wurks) 

 

MEANING:

noun: A small, loosely structured corporate research and development unit or subsidiary formed to foster innovation.

 

ETYMOLOGY:

From Skonk Works, a fictional facility in Al Capp’s comic strip Li’l Abner that processed dead skunks, old shoes, kerosene, and other odd ingredients. Earliest documented use: 1960.

 

NOTES:

The term gained real-world application in 1960 when Lockheed Martin used it to describe a secretive unit tasked with developing advanced fighter planes. The facility, located near a plastic factory with an acrid odor, inspired an engineer to nickname it Skonk Works, later adapted to Skunkworks. The term now symbolizes agile, creative problem-solving in corporate or engineering environments.

 

USAGE:

“The company’s skunkworks, for example, are decentralised to encourage innovation, but its accountants are centralised. ‘We don’t want highly innovative accountants,’ says Motorola’s Mr Canavan.”
Partners in Wealth; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 21, 2006.