# I wanna use the pikey **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-use-the-pikey/52499 "2001-01-31T02:53:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-use-the-pikey/52499/1 "2001-01-31T02:53:26Z")
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 Scruff ``` ---
**Author:** ![ellis555](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e36b37/32.png) [@ellis555](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ellis555)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-use-the-pikey/52499/2 "2001-02-01T04:06:53Z")
According to [this site](http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/8662/print.html) on Irish slang… > [@](#): > > Pavey/ Pikey (n): gypsy (they were specifically travelling sellers of fabric) I think that answers (1) and (2). As for (3), from the same site… > [@](#): > > Pave (v): to rob something So the answer would seem to be b)derogatory. This also fits with the general negative stereotype attached to gypsies. -ellis ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-use-the-pikey/52499/3 "2001-02-01T06:31:02Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-use-the-pikey/52499/4 "2001-02-01T08:28:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-use-the-pikey/52499/5 "2001-02-01T16:19:45Z")
> [@](#): > > one of Guy Ritchie’s Mockney creations like what? ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-use-the-pikey/52499/6 "2001-02-02T02:20:38Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-use-the-pikey/52499/7 "2001-02-02T05:13:18Z")
**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” ? ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-wanna-use-the-pikey/52499/8 "2001-02-02T08:59:23Z")
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.