"sike"

[Scot LaFaive]

Yes, I'm going with the "psych out" as the meaning and spelling it as
"psych." That was my understanding in my mid-teens in the late 80's from the
original land of dairy.
Scot


>From: Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: "sike"
>Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:45:16 -0500
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: "sike"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>On 1/17/07, David Bowie <db.list at pmpkn.net> wrote:
> >
> > FWIW, i find it spelled "sike" in inscriptions in my middle and high
> > school yearbooks (as early as the early 80s).
> >
> > The understanding at the time was that it meant something like "piss",
> > making it a weaker term to use than "sh?t" (obliteration to avoid
> > vulgarity bots). I don't recall ever hearing at the time that it might
> > have any relationship to "psych out"--but we *are* talking memories of
> > pre- and early teenhood here, so i'm not gonna vouch strongly for
> > anything in this paragraph except the "piss" memory, which is rather
>strong.
>
>That's pretty odd... perhaps that was a localized playground
>explanation? (ISTR David grew up in Maryland.) Among NJ teenagers in
>the '80s, the link between the interjection /saIk/ (however spelled)
>and the verb "psych (out)" was quite strong. Weren't Maryland kids
>using /saIk/ to mean "I just deceived you" (i.e, "You've been psyched
>[out]")? Or was there some other context of use that would allow it to
>be equated with "shit" or "piss"?
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer
>
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