City Slicker

City Slicker

City slicker, a synonym for "fop", is an idiomatic expression for someone accustomed to a city or urban lifestyle and unsuited to life in the country. The term was typically used as a term of derision by rural Americans who regarded them with amusement.

"Slicker" came from a Western term for an orphaned calf.ref|wheeler It referred to the naive nature of people from the Eastern cities. "City slicker" was derisively given to these Easterners for their assumption that their "book-learnin' " gave them superior intelligence. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century Westerners, particularly cowboys, used the Easterners' perceived snobbish attitudes as justification for playing tricks—sometimes violent tricks—on them.Fact|date=August 2008

City slickers appeared often as deceitful characters in U.S. comic strips and movies before the middle of the 20th century, but usually to be "outsmarted" by the native wisdom and common sense of the locals or to somehow otherwise get their just deserts in the end.Fact|date=August 2008

The archtypal city slicker is depicted as a spoiled selfish lazy rich person who consider people living on farms to be poor and ignorant. They are depicted as being unacustommed to hard labour and as a result, tire very easily and complain when working.

The term is seldom used in rural areas today except in a joking manner by which both rural residents and urban visitors may explain missteps.Fact|date=August 2008

ee also

*"City Slickers" is a 1991 comedy movie.
*"" is the 1994 sequel to "City Slickers".
*"The City Slicker", a 1918 film starring Harold Lloyd.
*"The City Slickers" were the backup band for Spike Jones.
*"City Slicker" is the name of the popular malt beverage brewed in beautiful LaCrosse, Wisconsin, on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi by City Brewery, and served in a 40 ounce bottle.

End notes

# Wheeler, "Cherokee Outlet Cowboy".

References

*Wheeler, Ellen Jayne Maris (editor). "Cherokee Outlet Cowboy: Recollections of Laban S. Records". Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8061-2694-9


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • city slicker — n [Date: 1900 2000; Origin: slicker from slick to deceive cleverly (19 20 centuries), from SLICK1] someone who lives and works in a city and has no experience of anything outside it often used to show disapproval …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • city slicker — city slickers N COUNT If you refer to someone as a city slicker, you mean that they live and work in a city and are used to city life. [INFORMAL] ...the city slickers in the capital …   English dictionary

  • city slicker — ► NOUN ▪ a person with the sophisticated tastes or values associated with city dwellers …   English terms dictionary

  • city slicker — ☆ city slicker n. Informal a city dweller regarded, esp. by rural people, as a smooth, tricky person …   English World dictionary

  • City slicker — For other meanings see City slicker (disambiguation). City slicker is an idiomatic expression for someone accustomed to a city or urban lifestyle and unsuited to life in the country. The term was typically used as a term of derision by rural… …   Wikipedia

  • city slicker — noun a city dweller with sophisticated manners and clothing • Syn: ↑city boy • Hypernyms: ↑slicker * * * noun, pl ⋯ ers [count] informal + often disapproving : someone who lives in a city and does not understand what life outside a city is like… …   Useful english dictionary

  • city slicker — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms city slicker : singular city slicker plural city slickers informal showing disapproval someone who lives and works in a city. This word is usually used by people from the countryside who dislike people from the …   English dictionary

  • City slicker (disambiguation) — City slicker and similar can mean: city slicker, a pejorative name for some sorts of town raised or city raised person City Slickers, a 1991 comedy movie. City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly s Gold, the 1994 sequel to City Slickers. The City… …   Wikipedia

  • city slicker — Synonyms and related words: big city man, bourgeois, burgess, burgher, city dweller, city man, cosmopolitan, cosmopolite, exurbanite, man of experience, man about town, oppidan, slicker, sophisticate, suburbanite, townee, towner, townfolk,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • city slicker — noun Date: 1924 slicker 2b …   New Collegiate Dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”