peeps

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Wed, Mar 08, 2006 at 12:46:20PM -0500, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
> On 3/8/06, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, Mar 08, 2006 at 10:43:16AM -0500, George Thompson wrote:
> > > 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.
> >
> > It is in OED; you have to look under _peeps_ pl. We have it from
> > 1973, but have since found a 1951 example.
>
> Would that be this vocative example?
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0510A&L=ADS-L&P=R1344

Yes, it would; we got it from your post.

> I also posted a number of 19th-century cites for "peeps" = "people",
> the earliest of which is from 1847:
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0509D&L=ADS-L&P=24775

Got those two. Not the same as the later slang use though, as
you know.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org