# U.S. Dialect survey: "kipe" or "kype"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 11, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658 "2005-02-11T22:03:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/1 "2005-02-11T22:03:23Z")
This came up in passing in another thread, and I want to check a hypothesis, so
A) Do you know this word, as a verb and
B) where did you grow up/ where did you learn this word?
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### Author:  [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/2 "2005-02-11T22:22:22Z")
Oh, and C) How old are you?
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### Author:  [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/3 "2005-02-11T22:31:22Z")
a. no
b. Northern California
c. 26
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/4 "2005-02-11T22:31:42Z")
Presuming you mean slang for low-level stealing, or perhaps more accurately “secretly borrowing” — I’m 35, a longtime Pacific Northwesterner, and the version I’ve heard (and occasionally use) is “kife.” Never heard it with a P until it came up on these boards.
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### Author:  [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/5 "2005-02-11T22:43:52Z")
a. No
b. NJ
c. 35
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### Author:  [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/6 "2005-02-11T22:56:13Z")
I was the thinking the same thing as Cervaise.
I’m 21 and from Toronto, I first heard “kife” about 7 years ago.
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### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/7 "2005-02-11T22:56:45Z")
a. Yes
b. Raised suburban Phila/first heard it in south central PA
c. 48
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### Author:  [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/8 "2005-02-11T23:00:45Z")
a) Yes, meaning petty thief/unauthorized borrowing
b) Growing up in Minnesota
c) 38
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/9 "2005-02-11T23:04:27Z")
a. No.
b. Tennessee.
c. 23.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/10 "2005-02-11T23:25:02Z")
1. No
2. Baltimore
3. 51
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### Author:  [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2005, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/11 "2005-02-11T23:37:09Z")
1. No
2. Detroit
3. 41
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2005, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/12 "2005-02-12T00:12:03Z")
A. No
B. Upstate New York (Hudson Valley region)
C. 22
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/13 "2005-02-12T00:15:38Z")
1. **Yes**. I learned it when I was around 8. It rhymed with (and was a synonym for) ‘swipe’. I later learned the pejorative ‘kike’, and wondered (given the other negative stereotypes extent about Jews) if it was related.
2. **West Virginia**
3. **45**
Note: The term was used in an episode of _Green Acres_ (part of the Paul Henning trilogy). Mr. Douglas’ visiting, motorcycle-riding hippie nephew Chuck says he can repair one of the tractors, but first has to ‘kipe’ some parts.
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### Author:  [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/14 "2005-02-12T00:15:51Z")
1. No
2. Tennessee (Eastern)
3. 31
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/15 "2005-02-12T00:18:30Z")
Additional note: Confusing letters with numbers undermines my dryly humorous attempt at pretentious scholarship.
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### Author:  [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/16 "2005-02-12T00:25:37Z")
1. No
2. Cleveland
3. 46
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### Author:  [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/17 "2005-02-12T00:57:19Z")
A. No, but “kife” was commonly used among young people to mean steal (in a petty way). “Hey, where did you get that pack of cigarettes?” “I kifed it from my dad.”
B. Maine
C. 48
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/18 "2005-02-12T00:58:03Z")
1. No
2. South Carolina
3. 24
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### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/19 "2005-02-12T01:08:43Z")
1. Yes - first heard it about 21 years ago, when I ate a french fry from the plate of the young woman beside me. “Hey, you kiped my french fry!”
2. Washington (the state)
3. 38
I really haven’t heard it all that often, though, and not at all in recent years. Around here, good old “ripped off” is far more common.
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/20 "2005-02-12T01:26:47Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#):
>
> Additional note: Confusing letters with numbers undermines my dryly humorous attempt at pretentious scholarship.
Also, the word you wanted in your post was extant, not extent.
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