In the film Snatch, the character played by Brad Pitt is referred to as “the Pikey” throughout. The character is a bare-knuckle boxer of Irish/Gypsy desecnt.
(1) Is “Pikey” a real (slang) word or is it one of Guy Ritchie’s Mockney creations?
and, assuming the answer to (1) is that it is a real word
(2) To whom or what does it refer specifically?
(3) Is it a friendly nickname or a derogatory name or what?
A Confused ScruffAccording to this site on Irish slang…
I think that answers (1) and (2). As for (3), from the same site…
So the answer would seem to be b)derogatory. This also fits with the general negative stereotype attached to gypsies.
-ellis
ellis555’s information is correct. It should be noted, (for the few who don’t already know), that the gypsies in Ireland are not the Rom. Ireland has its own clans of wandering tinkers and peddlars (and presumed thieves and con-artists) to whom the name gypsy has been applied, but they have no connection with the Rom or gypsies of Europe.
The derivation is from Turnpike - main roads connecting towns, usually with tolls in the past. Thus a Pikey was one who frequented the roads- a traveler who looked for work or opportunities whilst using the turnpikes.
like what?
Thanks to all. Silly me, I hadn’t thought that it would be [iIrish* slang, so I was furkling aruond in various Cockney and Estuary English references.
As to “Mockney” – I don’t have a specific cite in mind. Guy Ritchie and others have taken a fair amount of heat in the British press for the exaggerated Cockney accents and slang in these stories.
On the other hand, nothing can compare with Dick Van Dyke’s Cockney accent in “Mary Poppins”… :o
ellis(or tom) do you have an idea when “pikey” is first used in Irish literature?
Pjen What is the source of your statement “The derivation is from Turnpike” ?
Reply to samclem:
Chambers Dictionary:
Pike (3) a turnpike… piker- a tramp.
I can find no reference in the OED and assume that pikey is a diminutive.
It is used in the 1970s film ‘The Black Stuff’ by Alan Bleasdale, and I remember it being used in southern England in the fifties about gypsies in general, not just Irish tinkers.
Of course if anyone can find a derivation I’d be happy to be corrected.
Just checked Ayto and Simpson’s Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang-
Pikey (noun also dialect) A Gypsy or traveller. 1847-1955 P Wilderwood My family’s all Pikeys, but we ain’t on the road no more! (1955) (From pike, noun, turnpike)
Additionally he defines piking as derived from picking pockets which may add some crossover to criminality.