DCHP-2

bunny hug bunnyhug, bunny-hug DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — Saskatchewan, Clothing

  a hooded sweatshirt (see Image 1).

  Type: 1. Origin — Bunnyhug or bunny hug 'hooded sweatshirt' is virtually restricted to Canada (see Chart 1). In fact, the term is almost exclusively restricted to Saskatchewan (see Chart 2), since a bunnyhug is better known in other provinces as a hoodie or hooded sweatshirt, terms also used elsewhere (see also the third 2007 quotation). Many younger speakers in Saskatchewan purportedly index the term as a marker of Saskatchewan identity, which elevates it to the status of a provincial marker.
  Although its origins are uncertain, some sort of metaphorical transfer, either from the cozy embrace of the soft garment or the shape of the hood seems most likely (see the second fist note for one such metaphorical transfer scenario).

  • The 1978 quotation suggests that originally bunny hug was used adjectivally. Since the 1990s it is most often used as a noun, e.g. She is wearing a bunny hug.
  • 
    The historical record, starting in the 1990s in the present form as a noun and in the late 1970s with the use as a modifier, casts doubt on the connection with the Bunny Hop dance (see the second 2007 quotation). It seems more plausible, given this timeline, that the name is derived from a similarity in shape of the worn bunny hug (see Image 1) with rabbit ears, i.e. bunny ears, that closely hug the head, or a similar metaphorical transfer. If that type of scenario is correct, sociolinguistic findings (e.g. Eckert 2000) would suggest a particular social group as the innovators: it stands to reason that in the 1980s, when hoodies became widespread (note again the 1978 first attestation in a preliminary form), a special role was played by Saskatchewan teenagers in this term's development and spread. This is, so far, based only on circumstantial evidence, but the scenario is perhaps more realistic than the existing ones (see the 2007 quotation) and is, moreover, in line with the attested evidence (SD 31 May 2016).