Unusual application of "kike"

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Tue Dec 11 01:09:16 UTC 2012


I see a humorous article from 1906, on-line at the Fulton site --

http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html

-- showing the word "kike" applied to a miserly northerner in the south
for the winter.

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_The Morning Telegraph_ (New York NY), 21 January 1906: p. 4:

<<[title] Doings at Dope Springs / by CHARLES DRYDEN / Sad Story Wherein
the Life and Angling Habits of the Kike Are Exposed. / .... Such fellows
are kikes, and I have long ached to turn the calcium on them. A kike is
one degree below the piker in general picayune propositions, such as
skinning a gnat for its hide and tallow. ....>>

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It's a pretty long piece. The "kike" in this article is not assigned a
religion or ethnic group. He typically has a beard and a celluloid
collar. He typically is a merchant from a country town in the Midwest.
He carries his own basic foodstuffs (hams, potatoes, beans, dried
pumpkin, molasses, flour, butter, salt, pepper) for his southern stay to
avoid grocery expenses.

-- Doug Wilson

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