Pink Box

a wordDunking

also: dunk

Break it in half first. There were rules, and a president of them.

Dunkingdunk, from Pennsylvania German dunke, to dip, from Middle High German dunken

Putting a donut in coffee. For twenty-odd years, an organised pastime with officers.

Root. dunk, from Pennsylvania German dunke, to dip, from Middle High German dunken
The National Dunking Association turned the verb into a membership in the 1930s. Cited · wp-national-dunking-association

The story Cited · wp-national-dunking-association

The Doughnut Corporation of America started the National Dunking Association in the 1930s to popularise donuts in North America. At its peak it claimed millions of members across more than 300 chapters, with Official Dunking Rules that treated dunking as a sport and told members to break the donut in half before swishing it rhythmically in coffee, cocoa, tea or milk. There was an annual convention in New York.

Its presidents included Jimmy Durante, Jack Lemmon, Red Skelton, Joey Bishop and Johnny Carson. Bert Nevins was vice president.

The particulars

part of speechverb
regionThe United States
confidencehigh · updated 2026-09-16

Who it runs with

organizationsNational Dunking AssociationThe organisation.and of this page it says: The gesture.dishesThe pot of coffeeWhat you dunk into.organizationsDoughnut Corporation of AmericaWho set it up, and why.

Where we got it

Where it came from: Cited a source we name · Harvested pulled from an open dataset · Tradition what the tradition says, hedged · Inference this project's reasoning · Field somebody stood there. This record as JSON.

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