The word funk, once defined in dictionaries as body odor or the smell of sexual intercourse, commonly has been regarded as coarse or indecent. Black musicians originally applied funk to music with a slow, mellow groove, then later with a hard-driving, insistent rhythm because of the word’s association with sexual intercourse. This early form of the music set the pattern for later musicians. The music was slow, sexy, loose, riff-oriented, and danceable. Funky typically described these qualities. In jam sessions, musicians would encourage one another to "get down" by telling one another, "Now, put some stank (stink/funk) on it!" At least as early as the 1930s, jazz songs carried titles such as Buddy Bolden’s Funky Butt. As late as the 1950s and early 1960s, when funk and funky were used increasingly in the context of soul music, the terms still were considered indelicate and inappropriate for use in polite company.
http://funkbaby.com/
http://www.soul-patrol.com/funk/funk_pep.htm
VB
