Honey Do List (“Honey, do this; honey, do that”)

A “honey do list” is a series of commands when a wife says to a husband, “Honey, do this” and “Honey, do that.” The “honey-do” joke stems from the popularity of the “honeydew” melon. “My wife started telling me ‘Honey do this’ and ‘Honey do that’ until the world looked flat” was cited in May 1956. ” A retired New Yorker describes himself as being in the ‘honeydew age’—with plenty of time on his hands his wife keeps saying,  ‘Honey, do this, honey, do that’” was cited in August 1956.
 
“Honeydew list” was cited in print in September 1967 and “‘Honey Do’ list” in August 1968.
 
   
Wikitionary: honey do list
Etymology
From “Honey, could you do ...”, punning on honeydew
Noun
honey do list (plural honey do lists)
1. (US, idiomatic) a collection of requests, usually by a spouse for a partner to perform a series of tasks, assignments, or jobs dealing with the maintenance of a household.
 
Wikipedia: Honeydew (melon)
Honeydew is a cultivar group of the muskmelon, Cucumis melo Inodorus group, which includes crenshaw, casaba, Persian, winter, and other mixed melons.
 
13 May 1956, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Letters From Readers,” pt. 3, pg. 2, col. 5:
Honey Do Club
To the Dallas News:
A word of caution to the man planning to join a club: Last July I retired from railroading, and my friends wanted to know how it felt to be a man of leisure. They persuaded me to join the Honey Do Club. That was the snag that sank my little boat. My wife started telling me “Honey do this” and “Honey do that” until the world looked flat. Men, there will be trouble ahead if you join that club.
OSCAR BROUGHTON.
Farm Road 322,
Palestine, Texas.
 
6 August 1956, Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, ‘Show Time” by Earl Wilson, pg. 29, col. 1:
TODAY’S BEST LAUGH: A retired New Yorker describes himself as being in the “honeydew age”—with plenty of time on his hands his wife keeps saying,  “Honey, do this, honey, do that.”
 
Google News Archive
5 July 1958, Toledo (OH) Blade, pg. 1, col. 2:
Sprained Wrist Just A Case Of Holiday Honey-Do’s
RICHMOND, Va., July 5 (AP)—“I’ve got a case of the holiday honey-do’s,” Linwood E. Taylor, 33, of Richmond, told attendants at the Medical College of Virginia’s emergency room yesterday. And he had a sprained wrist to prove it.
 
Asked for a firmer description of his malady, Mr. Taylor said: “Oh, you know, It’s ‘honey, do this’ and ‘honey, do that’ all day long.”
 
The sprained wrist came, he said, when he fell while washing a first-floor window.
 
As he left the emergency room, Mr. Taylor turned to his wife and said:
 
“From now on, honey, do it yourself.”
 
22 March 1962, Ludington (MI) Daily News, “In and Around Michigan” by Chuck Wallace, pg. 8, col. 1:
It looks like the only way a tried and true outdoorsman can keep this from turning into a “Honey-Do” weekend is to tell the little woman that your read in this column that the perch are starting to hit in the channel and look how much you can save on the food bills by going after them now.
 
Google News Archive
21 June 1964, The Sunday Star-News (Wilmington, NC), “Along The Cape Fear,” pg. 1, col. 2:
A Cape Fearless tells us that he’s going to have a “honey dew” vacation this summer. Our first reaction was that he intended a series of feasts on honey dew melons. However, that was not his definition. His reply was that a “honey dew” vacation is when the man of the house stays at home, and every time he sits down to rest, his wife says, “Honey, do this, or, honey, do that. My wife’s got a list of vacation chores for me at home that’s as long as your arm.”
 
Google News Archive
25 July 1965, The Blade (Toledo, OH), “The 13-Week Vacation Bit!” by Herbert Stein, sec. B, pg. 3, col. 2:
“I call it my honey-do vacation,” Mr. Krasinski said. “My wife says: ‘Honey do this, honey do that.’”
 
Google News Archive
13 February 1967, Fort Scott (KS) Tribune, “West Liberty” by Mrs. Emma Grubb, pg. 7, col. 1:
Honey-Do Day
Saturday Feb. 4 was Honey-Do day at West Liberty Church. It is day set aside to get all the little chores accomplished by “honey-do this” and “honeydo that”.
 
Google News Archive
30 September 1967, Victoria (TX) Advocate, pg. 12C, col. 8 classified ad:
Are you ready to eliminate one thing from your honeydew list? If so, call for an appointment to see this unique two bedroom two bath home with lots of extras. Woolson Real Estate, 578-3626
 
4 August 1968, Atchison (KS) Globe, “4-H Clubs,” pg. 9A, col. 3:
Basil Roark, AHS vocal music teacher, said he has been catching up on odd jobs on his wife’s “Honey Do” list.
   
Google Books
4 Days, 40 Hours and Other Forms of the Rearranged Workweek
By Riva Poor
New York, NY: New American Library
1973
Pg. 276:
For those who don’t know what the honey-do weekend is, men report that it’s the wife saying: “Honey, do this, . . . honey, do that.”
 
Google Books
Understanding the Male Temperament:
What every man would like to tell his wife about himself ... but won’t
By Tim F. LaHaye
Old Tappan, NJ: Revell
1977
Pg. 29:
It might even catapult him into attacking that “Honey, do . . .” list — but don’t count on it!
 
Google News Archive
17 October 1983, Bryan (OH) Times, “Hints From Heloise,” pg. 5, col. 2:
HONEY-DO SHOWER
Dear Heloise: Recently I read of a “Honey-Do” shower given to a young groom-to-be by his co-workers.
 
I assume the phrase comes from the bride’s often-to-be-heard “Honey, do this; Honey, do that”. (...)—L.J.
 
Google Books
How to Get What You Want and Want What You Get
By Willard Tate
Nashville, TN: Christian Communications
1989
Pg. 122:
Saturday, however, often turns out with bad weather or to be a “Honey-do” day (Honey, do this! And honey, do that!).
 
Urban Dictionary
honey do list
A list of chores assigned by one’s primary companion, sweetheart, and honey pot.
Nah, Dude. I can’t. I got a honey do list long enough to keep me home for the whole summer and into deer hunting season.
by Paul Sisler June 01, 2005
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Honey do list.
Author: Taylor Baptist
Publisher: [S.l.] : Outskirts Press, 2013
Edition/Format:   Book : English