# U.S. Dialect survey: "kipe" or "kype" **URL:** \ **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:** 15\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/101 "2010-09-25T02:23:10Z")
a) Yes b) So Cal Meaning…minor stealing or borrow without permission. c) 67 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/102 "2010-09-25T02:44:24Z")
A) Yes B) Southern California. To steal, especially to lightfinger or pocket surrepticiously C) 56 ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/103 "2010-09-25T04:19:16Z")
a. Yes, I always assumed it was spelled “kype”; I heard it as a child in b. Oregon c. 61 I learned it from childhood associates, I did not hear it in my family. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/104 "2010-09-25T08:19:07Z")
> [@pyromyte](#): > > A. no, never heard of it until now. > B. moved a lot when i was a kid (KY, PA, CA, TN, OH, FL). > C. 30 > > My younger brother in-law uses the term “gank.” Gank is what I’ve used, learned it from my friend from Pennsylvania. Haven’t heard kipe. 33 Southern Indiana ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/105 "2010-09-25T10:38:36Z")
no South Jersey/Philadelphia 50 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/106 "2010-09-25T11:00:24Z")
> [@capybara](#): > > Oh, how funny. Zombie from the days before the polling software. And I don’t even remember what hypothesis I was testing (I think I was positing a NW or W US usage-- seems to be a bit broader than that including some of the NE. I think your posit is correct. _Heavily_ weighted towards the West Coast area from CA. to WA. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/107 "2010-09-25T14:19:23Z")
Yes, “minor” stealing such as cookies when you’re mom said no more. American southwest 53, I heard this term by the time I was 6 ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/108 "2010-09-25T14:54:50Z")
Yes, Ct. 1970’s ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/109 "2010-09-26T01:33:36Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > 54, grew up in Maryland, where the word ‘cop’ was used for stealing, not just for feels. Same sense really. To cop a feel is to sneak up and steal one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bamboo\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Bamboo\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bamboo_Boy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/110 "2010-09-26T10:21:40Z")
A) Yes B) I heard it first in Phoenix, AZ in 1988 C) 40 Having heard the term fairly late in life, and being told it had racist overtones, I just avoid it and WONDER if I should wince when others say it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/111 "2010-09-26T16:29:40Z")
> [@Bamboo\_Boy](#): > > A) Yes > B) I heard it first in Phoenix, AZ in 1988 > C) 40 > > Having heard the term fairly late in life, and being told it had racist overtones, I just avoid it and WONDER if I should wince when others say it. 🙂 What was the nature of this “racist overtones” thing? What’s it supposed to relate to? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/112 "2010-09-26T17:37:12Z")
A) Kind of. I looked at the word and realized it’s a word I hadn’t heard in a long time, but guessed its meaning straight away, so I must have heard it somewhere. No clue where, though. B) Chicago. No idea where I learned it, if it was from one of the older people in the neighborhood or elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/113 "2010-09-26T20:43:59Z")
> [@capybara](#): > > 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? Meaning “steal”? I think it’s pretty much obsolete now, but I do remember hearing it in the 1960s when I was a kid. Even then it was a lot less common, but meant about the same thing as “swipe”. I would have spelled it “kipe” if I’d have had to write it down. ETA: I don’t remember where I heard it. My dad said it sometimes, but only in a joking or ironic manner. FTR his family brought him to L.A. when he was eight, in 1932, and I was raised there. ---
**Author:** ![mikeargo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@mikeargo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikeargo)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/114 "2010-09-26T21:12:36Z")
a. Never heard it b. New England c. 50 ---
**Author:** ![Bamboo\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Bamboo\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bamboo_Boy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658/115 "2010-09-26T23:56:18Z")
> [@capybara](#): > > > [@Bamboo\_Boy](#): > > > > A) Yes > > B) I heard it first in Phoenix, AZ in 1988 > > C) 40 > > > > Having heard the term fairly late in life, and being told it had racist overtones, I just avoid it and WONDER if I should wince when others say it. 🙂 > > What was the nature of this “racist overtones” thing? What’s it supposed to relate to? I don’t know! The closest thing I can think of is it could be a corruption of “kike” which is a derogatory term for Jews. Since “kipe” means steal, I figured it went hand in hand with the ‘greedy sneaky Jew’ stereotype. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-dialect-survey-kipe-or-kype/289658.md?page=5)