kype

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Kype," of course, is already in HDAS from the early 1930s.  (Some prefer
"kife.")  Origin, of course, unknown.

Victor's is the first report of any fancied connection with "kike," which
 AFAIK, has never been used as a synonym for "steal."

JL
On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 7:06 AM, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: kype
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I've heard the word "kype" used as a synonym for "steal". I think it was
> from my time in the northern Rockies. Many people in the backwater West say
> racial slurs more from ignorance than malice. Believe it or not, I have
> heard people there use the "n" word freely in the company of African
> Americans totally oblivious to the fact that they were being
> insulting--until I informed them. These were people who had lived very
> isolated lives. They had no clue that it was insulting. Of course, some
> knew
> better, but still had had little or no contact with a black or jewish
> person--and so, of course, still spoke from ignorance.
>
> 25 years in N. Idaho,
> Eric
>
>
> aOn Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 4:10 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      kype
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >  My ex-wife is working with a bunch of very strangely bigoted people.
> > Last night, the employer threw a "party" for the monthly birthdays and
> > offered the employees a cake.
> >
> > One of the other employees commented to my ex, "I'm going to kype that
> > cake from you."
> >
> > This made no sense. "Skype?"
> >
> > "No, kype. You know, like an insult to Jewish people."
> >
> > "Jip? Kiek?" "Yeah, it's like 'jip' and 'kiek'."
> >
> > Even replacing it with the only plausible "jew" still would make no
> > sense: "I'm going to jew that cake from you."
> >
> > People say the strangest things...
> >
> >     VS-)
> >
> > PS: This followed an antisemitic comment from someone else earlier in
> > the week that also contained some odd phrasing. Perhaps it's the
> > rarefied air in the Rockies... not enough oxygen. Both comments were
> > made not only with the knowledge that she was Jewish, but /because/ of
> it.
> >
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> >
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