"Pecker Wood" - Etymology? Origin?
N.Mitchum
------
> [...] Among the
> slang terms which have introduced themselves to American slang during my
> absence is the racist slur "pecker wood", which is apparently used (typically
> by black people) to denote white people.
>
> I had never heard this term until my 15-year-old daughter mentioned it to me
> today. [....]
>
> Could someone tell me where this term comes from? (The association with
> "woodpecker" is obvious; other possibilities might be something related to
> "pecker" and "woodie", though the connection between that and a racist slur
> against Caucasians escapes me.)
>......
The word was definitely in circulation before you left the US a
quarter century ago. It's always been tucked in the back of my
vocabulary as a term meaning "cracker" or "white trash." If it's
lately picked up a racist, anti-white meaning, that certainly is
something new.
--- NM (Mailers: drop HINTS)
N.Mitchum
-----
> The word was definitely in circulation before you left the US a
>.....
But in my rush to go to press I made only a partial and slipshop
reply. I also meant to point out that it's a single word,
"peckerwood," at least for me. That it's no more a racial slur
than is "cracker." And that the dictionary says it's an inversion
of "woodpecker," though this explains nothing about its meaning.
avi_ja...@my-dejanews.com
(almost to the day, actually!), after 27 years in the Middle East. Among the
slang terms which have introduced themselves to American slang during my
absence is the racist slur "pecker wood", which is apparently used (typically
by black people) to denote white people.
I had never heard this term until my 15-year-old daughter mentioned it to me
today. At first I though it might be obscure Berkeley/Oakland Ebonics, but
when I checked the Net, I found hundreds of examples -- many of them in song
lyrics. I was rather surprised at never having heard it before, since
despite my absence from the US, I managed to stay fairly up-to-date on
contemporary American usage.
Could someone tell me where this term comes from? (The association with
"woodpecker" is obvious; other possibilities might be something related to
"pecker" and "woodie", though the connection between that and a racist slur
against Caucasians escapes me.)
Thanks,
Avi
--
Avi Jacobson | When an idea is
av...@pacbell.net | wanting, a word
| can always be found
| to take its place.
| -- Goethe
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Lars Eighner
In our last episode <6rvv7s$ua8$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, the lovely and
talented avi_ja...@my-dejanews.com <avi_ja...@my-dejanews.com>
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
|As many here know, I returned to my native United States about a year ago
|(almost to the day, actually!), after 27 years in the Middle East. Among the
|slang terms which have introduced themselves to American slang during my
|absence is the racist slur "pecker wood", which is apparently used (typically
|by black people) to denote white people.
I have heard this expression in Central Texas for more than thirty
years and had the impression it was not a recent coinage when I
first heard it. "Pecker wood" was a fairly common expression in these
parts when "redneck" had not yet been heard of. I heard "pecker wood"
used by white people to refer to other white people at a time when
neither I nor many other white people would have heard the candid
expressions of black people.
|Could someone tell me where this term comes from? (The association with
|"woodpecker" is obvious; other possibilities might be something related to
|"pecker" and "woodie", though the connection between that and a racist slur
|against Caucasians escapes me.)
I always heard this term applied to males and in contexts in which
"prick" would have been a fair substitution, so I assume there is
something to the "pecker" association. However, it also had a clear
class content for it was applied to persons who elsewhere might be
called "white trash," "trailer trash," "oil-field trash," and so
forth--or in otherwords, landless peasants, the rural poor. Locally
(Central Texas), such people were also called "cedar choppers," for
some of them seemed to make a little money harvesting (or removing?)
the juniper scrub which is known locally as "cedar." Thus, it seemed
to me that "pecker wood" also owed something to the association with
wood cutting.
--
Lars Eighner*700 Hearn #101*Austin TX 78703*eig...@io.com FreeBDS 2.7.7
(512)474-1920 (FAX answers 6th ring) http://www.io.com/%7Eeighner/
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Charles Strauss
>avi_ja...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
>------
>> [...] Among the
>> slang terms which have introduced themselves to American slang during my
>> absence is the racist slur "pecker wood", which is apparently used (typically
>> by black people) to denote white people.
>>
>>
>> Could someone tell me where this term comes from? (The association with
>> "woodpecker" is obvious; other possibilities might be something related to
>> "pecker" and "woodie", though the connection between that and a racist slur
>> against Caucasians escapes me.)
>
>The word was definitely in circulation before you left the US a
>vocabulary as a term meaning "cracker" or "white trash." If it's
>lately picked up a racist, anti-white meaning, that certainly is
>something new.
>
I believe it was used in the "white trash" sense in the novel "Auntie Mame"
by Patrick Dennis, published around 1954-55.
Skitt
avi_ja...@my-dejanews.com wrote in message
<6rvv7s$ua8$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...
>Could someone tell me where this term comes from? (The association with
>"woodpecker" is obvious; other possibilities might be something related to
>"pecker" and "woodie", though the connection between that and a racist slur
>against Caucasians escapes me.)
MWCD10:
Main Entry: peck搪r暈ood
Pronunciation: 'pe-k&r-"wud
Function: noun
Etymology: probably inversion of woodpecker
Date: 1904
: a rural white Southerner -- often used disparagingly
--
Skitt http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/5537/
CAUTION: My opinion may vary.
28.3854 -80.7012
K1912
>As many here know, I returned to my native United States about a year ago
>slang terms which have introduced themselves to American slang during my
>absence is the racist slur "pecker wood", which is apparently used (typically
>by black people) to denote white people.
>
>I had never heard this term until my 15-year-old daughter mentioned it to me
but
>when I checked the Net, I found hundreds of examples -- many of them in song
>lyrics. I was rather surprised at never having heard it before, since
>despite my absence from the US, I managed to stay fairly up-to-date on
>contemporary American usage.
>
>"woodpecker" is obvious; other possibilities might be something related to
>"pecker" and "woodie", though the connection between that and a racist slur
>against Caucasians escapes me.)
>
__Dictionary of American Slang__:
peck: __n__. A white person. __Negro use. From "peckerwood."__ --erwood.
__n__. A poor Southern white person, esp. a farmer; an ignorant, poor,
intolerant Southerner; white trash. __Negro use; orig. dial. Southern Negro
use.__
gk
K1912
Joseph C Fineman
>And that the dictionary says it's an inversion of "woodpecker,"
>though this explains nothing about its meaning.
It seems also to have been used literally:
Listened to the tapping of the peckerwood,
Thought to have a woman would be powerful good.
-- "Tennessee"
--- Joe Fineman j...@world.std.com
||: If there were enough doctors, we'd all be sick. :||
Donna Richoux
> __Dictionary of American Slang__:
>
> peck: __n__. A white person. __Negro use. From "peckerwood."__ --erwood.
> __n__. A poor Southern white person, esp. a farmer; an ignorant, poor,
> intolerant Southerner; white trash. __Negro use; orig. dial. Southern Negro
> use.__
From Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language:
"pecker, n. One that pecks; a bird that pecks holes in trees; a
woodpecker."
If I may speculate, wood that had been thoroughly pecked would be no use
to someone who cut down the tree for lumber, and that section would be
discarded. Hence the possible connection to "trash, worthless, no good."
However, this would require evidence that the term "pecker wood" was
actually used for such material.
Oh, now here's something different. Thorndike Barnhart 1991 has:
"peckerwood, n. US Dialect. 1. A woodpecker. 2.a poor white; cracker."
That suggests that the analogy is between the bird and the person.
Best wishes --- Donna Richoux
John Holmes
Skitt wrote in message <6s143m$kp...@svlss.lmms.lmco.com>...
>
>MWCD10:
>Main Entry: peck搪r暈ood
>Pronunciation: 'pe-k&r-"wud
>Function: noun
>Etymology: probably inversion of woodpecker
>Date: 1904
>: a rural white Southerner -- often used disparagingly
Could it be that, rather than being a simple inversion, this refers to
the wood that a woodpecker pecks [1], i.e. the rotten, grub-infested
parts? It seems to fit the sense and I believe that the bird was
sometimes called simply a 'pecker'.
[1] How much wood would a ....
A bushel and a peck, maybe?
Regards,
John.
hol...@smart.net.au
email copies of any replies would be appreciated.
Golgo13
> >Could someone tell me where this term comes from? (The association with
> >"woodpecker" is obvious; other possibilities might be something related to
> >"pecker" and "woodie", though the connection between that and a racist slur
> >against Caucasians escapes me.)
Brewer's Phrase and Fable (1993 ed, p 466), surprises me yet again, with
an etymology:
"_peck, peckerwood_, US Black slang for a woodpecker, also commonly used
for poor White people. Black people adopted the blackbird as their own
symbolic bird; the woodpecker was chosen to represent Whites, who 'peck'
for a living. The existence of poor Whites (also called _White trash_),
who lead even less successful lives than many oppressed blacks, has
alway been an embarrassment to White supremacists in America; in recent
years they have slowly been recognized as a poverty-stricken stratum of
of modern US society that has been long ignored."
Hope that helps,
DLS
--
D. Sosnoski
gol...@mindspring.com
"It was a psyched out sunrise over Las Vegas." HST
K1912
>K1912 <k1...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> >Could someone tell me where this term comes from? (The association with
>> >"woodpecker" is obvious; other possibilities might be something related to
>> >"pecker" and "woodie", though the connection between that and a racist
>slur
>> >against Caucasians escapes me.)
>
No, I didn't write the above, but I did contribute to the thread.
>Brewer's Phrase and Fable (1993 ed, p 466), surprises me yet again, with
>an etymology:
>
>"_peck, peckerwood_, US Black slang for a woodpecker, also commonly used
>for poor White people. Black people adopted the blackbird as their own
>symbolic bird; the woodpecker was chosen to represent Whites, who 'peck'
>for a living. The existence of poor Whites (also called _White trash_),
>who lead even less successful lives than many oppressed blacks, has
>alway been an embarrassment to White supremacists in America; in recent
>years they have slowly been recognized as a poverty-stricken stratum of
>of modern US society that has been long ignored."
>
>Hope that helps,
I'm sure it does. Good post.
K1912
Chris Malcolm
>Skitt wrote in message <6s143m$kp...@svlss.lmms.lmco.com>...
>>
>>MWCD10:
>>Main Entry: peckerwood
>>Pronunciation: 'pe-k&r-"wud
>>Function: noun
>>Etymology: probably inversion of woodpecker
>>Date: 1904
>>: a rural white Southerner -- often used disparagingly
>Could it be that, rather than being a simple inversion, this refers to
>the wood that a woodpecker pecks [1], i.e. the rotten, grub-infested
>parts? It seems to fit the sense and I believe that the bird was
>sometimes called simply a 'pecker'.
Of course. And this kind of wood is also known as "punk". It is
useless for any joinery purposes, and is only useful when dried out as
tinder. "Punk" has long been used to describe someone who is so
defective, mentally, physically, or in personality, as to be
irredeemably useless; exactly the same kind of person as "pecker-wood"
refers to. It's the same kind of physical craft metaphor as calling
someone a tow-rag, better known in the US as the erroneous "toe-rag".
I used to collect the daft MWCD entries that this newsgroup threw up,
but I collected so many I gave up.
--
Chris Malcolm c...@dai.ed.ac.uk +44 (0)131 650 3085
Department of Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK DoD #205
www.dai.ed.ac.uk/daidb/people/staff/Christopher_Malcolm.html
JPKonopak
me about lateral mobility), a fella I got to know asked me if I knew
what a "peckerwood" was. I admitted I didn't. He said, you know about
a redneck, right? Well a peckerwood's dumber and meaner and prouder of
it.