peeps

[George Thompson]

A day or so ago, JL sent us a farrago of current street talk.  I noted
with interest the appearance in it of the word "peep" -- I assume
shortening of "people"?  I don't see the word in the OED.

Here is the same word in a different sense, from the underground press
of 1853:

        If that peep, who goes by the name of W—n, . . . don’t put a
stop to his blowing, he may get himself in trouble.
        Life in Boston and New York, October 1, 1853, p. 3, col. 2

        Those four Micks who hang out in Grand, a few doors from Allen
street, make perfect peeps of themselves by putting on such airs.
        Life in Boston and New York, October 1, 1853, p. 3, col. 8

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

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