English

Noun

Henny Penny ‎(plural Henny Pennies)

1. One who panics at the slightest provocation.
   • 1984, Carol Chambers Collins, Our Food, Air and Water: How Safe Are They?, Facts on File (1984), ISBN 9780871969675, page 27:

     The Henny Pennies who forecast doom and disaster thus have been proved hysterics who could use some est or encounter sessions to calm their anxieties.

   • 2001, Seymour B. Sarason, American Psychology & Schools: A Critique, Teachers College Press (2001), ISBN 0807740888, page 130:

     I know that in some quarters I am regarded as a kind of wet blanket, a Henny Penny predicting doom and gloom.

   • 2006, Rebecca Knuth, Burning Books and Leveling Libraries: Extremist Violence and Cultural Destruction, Praegar Publishers (2006), ISBN 0275990079, page 209:

     On April 11, in a tense news conference during a period when the looting dominated the news, Rumsfeld dismissed the media by calling them “Henny Pennies,” a reference to a children's tale in which the main character runs around, declaring that the sky is falling.

Synonyms

• (one who panics easily): Chicken Little

See also

• Wikipedia article on Henny Penny