- Huckster
:"A Huckster is also a
character class in therole-playing game Deadlands ."A huckster is a seller of small articles, usually of cheap or shoddy quality, or one engaged in haggling or making petty bargains, that is, a certain type of
peddler or hawker.In
Scotland , the term huckster referred to a person, usually a woman, who bought goods and resold them in tiny quantity to others who were too poor to buy in quantities available at market. The goods were of no worse quality, though tended to be in the poorer quality range since economy was paramount. Scots burghs often felt the need to control hucksters because they operated without a stall, on the economic fringes. In particular, they were subject of accusations of forestalling, in this case the practice of buying goods wholesale, "before the stall" and therefore before tax was paid.Fact|date=October 2007The word was in use circa 1200 (as "huccsteress") and was spelled "hukkerye", "hukrie", "hockerye", "huckerstrye" or "hoxterye" at one time or another. The word was still in use in England in the 1840's, when it appeared as an occupation in census returns. The word is related to the
Middle Dutch "hokester, hoekster" and theMiddle Low German "hoker", but appears earlier than any of these. ["Oxford English Dictionary ", 2nd ed. (1989), "Huckster, "n."]The story '
The Goblin and the Huckster ' byHans Christian Andersen relates that human nature is attracted to a state of happiness as represented bypoetry and to sensual pleasure as represented byjam andbutter atChristmas . The huckster, through his haggling and bargaining, is seen as industrious because he possesses the jam and butter (sensual pleasure) and the student is seen as poor but happy because he appreciates the beauty of poetry above all else. Meanwhile, the huckster's talkative wife and the cask in which are stored old newspapers both have plenty of authoritative knowledge to share but are paid little attention compared to the primal desires of humankind, which constantly compete for (thegoblin 's) attention.Fact|date=October 2007In
science fiction fandom , the term "huckster" is used non-pejorative ly to designate dealers inscience fiction -related books, magazines and paraphernalia, [http://fanac.org/Fannish_Reference_Works/FandBook/FandBook.html Donald Franson, "A Key to the Terminology of Science Fiction Fandom"; National Fantasy Fan Federation, 1962.] particularly those who deal atscience fiction conventions .References
*Brown, Yvonne Galloway, and Ferguson, Rona, eds, (2002) "Twisted Sisters: Women, Crime and Deviance in Scotland Since 1400", Tuckwell Press
*Sanderson, Margaret H.B. (2002) "A Kindly Place?: Living is Sixteenth-Century Scotland", Tuckwell Press
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