honey badger

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See also: honeybadger

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From their badger-like appearance and their liking for honey.

The slang sense was inspired by the 2011 viral video The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger, for which original narration (including variations of "honey badger don't care") was dubbed over preexisting footage of a honey badger fending off various dangerous situations.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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honey badger (plural honey badgers)

  1. Mellivora capensis, a badger-like mustelid native to Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.
    • 2007, Ross Piper, Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals‎[1], page 48:
      Not only is the honey badger fond of hunting and eating venomous snakes and stealing honey from angry bees, it is also disregarding of animals many times its own size. Lions and leopards have been known to kill and eat honey badgers, but on the whole, they will give them a wide berth.
    • 2008, Lee Gutteridge, The South African Bushveld: A Field Guide from the Waterberg‎[2], page 97:
      There are in fact records of Honey badgers being stung to death in their quest for this much-relished source of food. Reptiles are also a major food source. Venomous snakes are neither ignored nor respected by the honey badger.
    • 2010, Chris McIntyre, Botswana: Okavango Delta, Chobe, Northern Kalahari‎[3], page 201:
      Co-operative relationships between mammals and birds are unusual, but the honey badger enjoys two. Its association with the greater honeyguide is well known. This small bird uses a distinctive song to lure the honey badger to a bee′s nest, whereupon it feasts on the grubs after the badger has ransacked the nest and had its fill of honey.
      Less well known is the honey badger′s association with the pale chanting goshawk.
  2. (figurative, slang) A person who displays indifference or disregard for others' opinions.
    • 2017 October 20, David Dinkins, “Bitcoin Breaks $6,000 Barrier, Market Cap Now Exceeds $100 Billion”, in Cointelegraph‎[4]:
      For years, Bitcoin has been called "the honey badger of money," and "antifragile." The "Bitcoin don't care" meme is perhaps most applicable of all right now. Bitcoin simply doesn't care what China does, or what bank CEOs say, or what central bankers think. The only thing Bitcoin cares about, apparently, is increasing in price and adoption.
    • 2018 September 5, Sonia Rao, “Here's what early critics think of Errol Morris's Steve Bannon movie, 'American Dharma'”, in The Washington Post‎[5]:
      The documentarian told the New York Times' Frank Bruni last month he made the movie because he "wanted to contribute something to the political debate ongoing." He said Bannon was willing to cooperate because he is a honey badger, and "honey badgers don't care," referring to the viral meme.

Synonyms

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Translations

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Further reading

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