Definition of Kentucky Colonel

Many ideas have been converged arbitrarily upon the title of the "Kentucky Colonel" so the definition for one person may not be the same for another without this eductaional information.

Definitions of Kentucky Colonel(s) and Colonelcy

This page is developed to fully define and disambiguate the ideas, the terms, the trademarks and various grammatical uses to better understand Kentucky colonels and colonelcy as a literary component and use generically and descriptively. See also Resources

Thanks to a civil lawsuit filed by the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels alleging infringement claiming the generic [term] Kentucky Colonels as its own arbitrary, descriptive, distinctive and suggestive trademark and service mark under 10 different classes, therefore the idea had to be literally and categorically disambiguated to be redefined logically to benefit its true origins. As the Colonel said in court, "The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels has systematically distorted the origins of 'Kentucky colonels' since 1941".

Klunder's Kentucky Colonels band pose with instruments, including drums, trumpet, clarinet, two saxophones (one played by a woman), banjo, and trombone, Louisville, Kentucky, circa 1924.

Definition, Syntax and Use

  1. Kentucky Colonel - Is any person that has been duly recognized by the Governor of Kentucky with the "Honorable" title based on their community service, deeds, or personal achievements.

  2. Kentucky Colonel can also be or is:

    • Is a legal title, is a state of being, is an honorary commission, is a form of recognition, is an award, is a type of civilian colonel. As a proper title, is a paper document sealed and signed certificate awarded as letters patent to be known as a "Kentucky Colonel" by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

    • In history 1777-1792 was the highest authority of the Kentucky District of Virginia.

    • The head of a troop command in the Kentucky Militia or Cavalry 1813. Personal staff of the Governor. Commander in the Kentucky State Guard. Retired officers from the great wars; Revolutionary, 1812, Mexican, and Civil.

    • An elderly gentleman, iconized in cartoons, comics, tv, magazines, newspapers with a straw brimmed hat, a split tail coat, a string tie, a white moustache with a goatee, standing next to a horse or at a farm house. 1890s

    • An extremely polite well mannered gentleman with an honorable reputation that must be defended at all cost that is very likely to have a duel to settle disputes with other colonels. 1880s

    • An arbitrary, descriptive or generic component [] or part of an association, business, corporate or organization trade name, incorporated or unincorporated, online or offline, or any other product, service or program name. 1892

    • An arbitrarily named, trademarked or untrademarked marketing name for a product such as beer, bourbon, a cigar, a tie, a hat or other item. eg. Where is my Kentucky colonel hat?

    • A preferred male clone of the Kentucky Coffee Tree that lacks the woody seed pods, Gymnocladus dioicus common name is Kentucky Colonel among horticulturists and gardeners.

    • A species of spearmint Mentha spicata common name is Kentucky Colonel.

    • A character in American literature since 1889. A type of person, sometimes a nickname in Kentucky. eg. Here comes the Kentucky colonel. or Hey, there is a Kentucky colonel here.

    • Many generations of race horses since 1890 have been named Kentucky Colonel.

  3. Kentucky Colonels, Kentucky colonels, Kentucky Colonels', Kentucky colonel's, Kentucky colonels', all have potentially different meanings depending on who you really are.

    • Kentucky Colonels or colonels are mostly synonymous and their plurals self explanatory. Anytime there are two or more living colonels doing something together they are Kentucky colonels. If they presented themselves somewhere they would be the Kentucky Colonels.

    • In 1889 the American imagination was inspired by a news article, "Kentucky Colonels" that was published coast-to-coast in as many as 200 newspapers across America defining who they were and why there were so many colonels there.

    • Kentucky Colonels has been used as the name of sports teams from baseball to basketball to softball since 1892 and is currently used by several universities with mascots, it has been used by several professional basketball teams.

    • Kentucky Colonels is known as one of several (5-6) music groups since 1898 that were known.

    • Kentucky Colonels™ and Kentucky Colonel™ or without the (TM) symbol have been used to market many products over the years including chewing tobacco, a tobacco strain, cigarettes, corn chips, chicken, barbecue, food items, hamburgers, hotels/motels/inns, little and even as a trademark haircut style in some places.

    • Kentucky Colonels® is a trademark for 6 classes of products such as apparel, business cards, stationery supplies, coffee mugs, keychains, etc. sold by the Kentucky Colonels Shop™ a third-party licensee of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels.

    • Kentucky Colonels® is a trademark for Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels' "Kentucky Colonel" Selected Type Cigars sold in various places.

    • Kentucky Colonels® is a trademark for food products such as barbecue sauce, barbecue jerky, candy, and chocolate sold by the Kentucky Colonels Shop or other stores.

    • Kentucky Colonels® was claimed by the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels as a service mark for providing philanthropic services, organizing local events, and providing club services to the donor members of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels. (This was challenged in Federal Court). Many do not feel that it is right to trademark this term for the services being offered because it is being applied generically online to dominate the term.

    • Kentucky's Colonels as a name or trademark and serves locally and regionally that has been used by third parties in reference to: colonels, members of the HOKC, athletic teams, sports teams, and groups. See also inapp. "Kentuckys Colonels" alternate trademark unregistered [Kentuckies Colonels™] or [Kentucky's Colonels™] Refer mostly and first to the HOKC using Google Explicit Term Searches. Kentuckies Colonels makes the best trademark because it is highly trackable and has never been used by anyone.

  4. [Kentucky Colonels] as a generic and descriptive term has been used as part of the association names since 1902 to reference independent "Kentucky Colonels Clubs" in different parts of the United States as far away as California, Chicago, Florida, New York, Ohio, Texas and West Virginia. Today there are several organizations in Kentucky, see Kentucky Colonels of Cumberland Kentucky, Kentucky Colonels Amateur Radio Club.

  5. [Kentucky Colonelcy] is a proverbial state of being a Kentucky Colonel it is also a proper thematic term that refers to the whole. It has rarely been used in December 2020 it only appeared 75 times in a Google Search.