From: "roger" <diogenes.jones-AT-attbi.com>
Subject: Re: Irish Travellers...
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2002 11:59:15 -0700


pik*er  n. 1. a person who does anything in a contemptibly small or
cheap way.  2. a stingy, tight-fisted person; tightwad.  3. a person
who gambles, speculates, etc., in a small, cautious way.  [1275-1325;
ME:  petty thief, equiv. to pik(en) to PICK + -ER; cf. dial. (N
England, Scots, Hiberno-E) pike to PICK]

-----SYN.  2. cheapskate, penny pincher, skinflint.

anybody got an OED?

roger

----- Original Message -----
From: "ninetyone andy" <andy_91_2000-AT-yahoo.co.uk>
To: "dan combs" <dcombs-AT-bloomington.in.us>
Cc: "Old Goat" <olgoat-AT-nebi.com>; "anarchy list"
<anarchy-list-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 11:35 AM
Subject: Re: Irish Travellers...


> I looked it up in some dictionaries of slang and
> carp's one was there.
>
> Piker was also described as someone who tries to avoid
> work by disappearing, possibly picking up a pike-staff
> before setting out.
>
> It was also as pikey and carp's piker linked to toll
> roads and turn-pikes in another dictionary, which said
> it was a name for travellers common in the UK in the
> 1950s particularly used in Kent for the hop-pickers.
> There was a suggestion that there was a dialect verb
> 'pike' meaning to travel. Anyway, the travellers who
> went into Kent for hop-picking would quite likely have
> been in Surrey and Middlesex on their way out again,
> so I guess pikey has lasted.
>
> Neither dictionary listed it as an abusive term
> though.
>
> Andy
>
>
>
>  --- dan combs <dcombs-AT-bloomington.in.us> wrote: > On
> Fri, 4 Oct 2002, ninetyone andy wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > > Pikey eh?  Do you know the derivation on that?
> > >
> > > I don't - it'll be my task for the weekend.
> >
> > My guess?
> >
> >
> > piker   Pronunciation Key  (pkr)
> > n. Slang
> > A cautious gambler.
> > A person regarded as petty or stingy.
> >
> > Or a person who wirks or travels along a pike
> > (road).
> >
> >
> > carpo
> >
>
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