Pikey

Pikey

Pikey is a pejorative slang term used primarily in England, originally referring to Travellers, sometimes mistakenly called "Gypsies". The Oxford English Dictionary traced its use in 1837 by Times, “referring to strangers harvesting in the Isle of Sheppey island”. Later that century it meant a "turnpike traveller" or vagabond. Recently, its use was associated with Irish Travellers and non-Roma Gypsies. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7446274.stm news.bbc.co.uk, How offensive is the word 'pikey'?] ] [ [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/06/10/formula-1-commentator-in-pikey-ofcom-probe-89520-20601991/ mirror.co.uk, Formula 1 commentator in 'pikey' Ofcom probe] ] In the late 20th century, it came to be used to describe, with disdain, a class of people regardless of heritage or abode, who are “squalid, disreputable, vulgar”(OED), untrustworthy and thought of as being one of the lowest classes in society. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7446274.stm news.bbc.co.uk, How offensive is the word 'pikey'?] ]

Contemporary usage

Pikey's most common contemporary use is not as a term for the Gypsy ethnic group, but as a catch-all phrase to refer to people, of any ethnic group, who travel around with no fixed abode(home).

Pikey is also commonly used to describe someone living in a caravan (not necessarily a Romani) and a "half pikey" is someone who lives in a caravan but owns the land in which it is on.Fact|date=June 2008

Among English Romani Gypsies the term Pikey refers to a Traveller that is not Romani. In the book "In the life of a Romany gypsy", published in 1973 and written by the respectable Romani author Manfri Frederick Wood, the term pikey is used by Romani Gypsies to refer to a member who has been cast out of the family. According to Manfri, if a member of the family is hot headed or a thief or a trouble maker or brings misfortune on the family, then a family council will be held and that member will be cast out of the family and will have to stay out of the way for ever more. They are regarded as never having even been a part of the family.Fact|date=June 2008

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the definition became even looser and is sometimes used to refer to a wide section of the (generally urban) underclass of the country, or merely a person of any social class who "lives on the cheap". This seems to be the meaning intended by Stephen Fry in an episode of "QI", grouping together "hoodies, pikeys and chavs", and intimating that these people are of a sort who "go out on the town, beating people up and drinking Bacardi Breezers".

Negative English attitudes towards "pikeys" were a running joke in the 2000 Guy Ritchie film "Snatch".

The American terms "trailer trash" and "white trash" are similar in the condescension and disdain with which they are used, though the stereotypes differ in some particulars.

A well known example of the word's use in popular culture is on the television show, The Catherine Tate Show, where Catherine Tate playing a cheeky schoolgirl named Lauren often uses phrases such as "Are you callin' me a pikey?" to suggest that others are 'disrespecting' her.

See also

* Didicoy
* Irish Traveller
* New Age travellers
* Romani people

References

# cite book | author=John Ayto (Editor) | title=The Oxford Dictionary of Slang | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1999 | id=ISBN 0-19-863157-X
# cite book | author=T. F. Hoad (Editor) | title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1986 | id=ISBN 0-19-283098-8
# cite book | author=Tony Thorne | title=Bloomsbury Dictionary of Contemporary Slang | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc | year=1990 | id=ISBN 0-7475-4594-4

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2887575.stm Anger over 'pikey' slur (BBC News)]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6988676.stm Davidson exits after TV gay row (BBC News) - (use of 'pikey' by Marco Pierre White)]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7446274.stm How offensive is the word 'pikey'? (BBC News)]
* [http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_3969520,00.html Brundle escapes punishment for 'pikey' comment (Planet F1)]

Notes


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • pikey — /pīˈki/ (derog sl) noun 1. Orig an itinerant person, a gypsy 2. A boorish and uneducated person, esp one engaged in a criminal or antisocial activity adjective Characteristic of a pikey ORIGIN: Perh shortened from ↑turnpike …   Useful english dictionary

  • Pikey — Pavee, auch irische Traveller (irisch: Lucht siúil) oder Itinerants genannt, sind eine als fahrend beschriebene soziokulturelle Gruppe irischen Ursprungs, die vor allem in Irland, Großbritannien und den USA lebt.[1] Darüber hinaus findet man sie… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • pikey (pikie) — n British a gypsy or vagrant. The term properly denotes one of the travelling people who lives in a settlement, such as a member of a family of hop pickers. The precise origins of these terms (and the American piker) are unclear because of the… …   Contemporary slang

  • pikey — 1. noun a) A low ranking soldier who merely carries a pike. b) A working class (often underclass) person; can vary from specifically Irish Travellers to gypsies or travellers from any ethnic background, but now increasingly used for any socially… …   Wiktionary

  • pikey — Everyday English Slang in Ireland n gypsy (they were specifically travelling sellers of fabric) …   English dialects glossary

  • Pikey —    Originally a derogatory term for a Gypsy. It is probably derived from the word turnpike a toll gate on a road. It is also used in contemporary English slang for someone who is always looking for bargains and ways of saving small sums of money …   Historical dictionary of the Gypsies

  • pikey — n. (British Slang) gypsy; hobo, vagabond, wanderer …   English contemporary dictionary

  • pikey — noun Brit. informal, offensive a Gypsy. Origin C19: from pike3 …   English new terms dictionary

  • pikey * — Noun. 1. A gypsy or traveller. 2. A vagrant. Derog. Adj. Of or relating to a gypsy or vagrant. Derog. * Orig. South east England/Kent use. Dialect …   English slang and colloquialisms

  • Trev,\ Pike,\ Pikey — Wear sporty or designer clothes only. Tend to look as if the entire pot of hair gel was emptied on hair if they aren t skinheads. Aftershave you can smell from several metres away. White or fluorescent bright clothes. The fundamental difference… …   Dictionary of american slang

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