[Ads-l] Antedating of "Peckerwood"

[Jonathan Lighter]

All from Newspapers.com except 1876 Neb.

In general, 'scoundrel; rascal; contemptible person.'

1866 _Union and American_ (Nashville, Tenn.) (Aug. 10) 4: She valued Mister
GRIPES about as she would any other peckerwood or pole cat.

1876 _Columbus [Neb.] Era_ (Feb. 5) [2] [GenealogyBank]: That Pecker-wood
that presides over the Omaha _Republican_ is chirping and caroling about
secession and southern rebels.   [Conceivably a proper name, but note
hyphen.]

1884 _Oxford [Ala.] News_ (July 3) [2]  : They will live in the history of
their country and state when the little pilfering peckerwood who ha
shelped to plunder the people in the interest of his own town will be
forgotten.

'poor rustic.'

1884 _Evening Republican_ (Columbia, Ind.)  The Possumglory "peckerwood"
band would furnish music and the[y] could have a rouser.

1884 _Jonesboro [Ill.] Gazette_ (Nov. 15)  3 : They are becoming tired of
the "peckerwood" [prohibition] evaders that  are taking up the time of the
courts, at the cost of the tax payers.

1885_Jonesboro [Ill.] Gazette_ (May 2) 3 ]: The "peckerwoods" and
"deadfalls" are becoming more bold in violation of the [prohibition' law.

'white person.'

1910 _Arkansas Gazette_ (Little Rock) (July 31) II 5: A white man convict
is a "peckerwood"

Nickname:

1873 _Daily Oregonian_ (Portland, Ore) (Aug. 30) 3:  Two or three others of
his companions bore the historic name of Adams, and they had not red heads;
and when the question was asked, "which Adams?" the answer would be, "why,
Peckerwood Adams, of course."

1881 _Daily Memphis Avalanche_ (Sept. 23) [4]: The case of Fountain
Fitzgerald, alias "Peckerwood."

1910 _Daily Courier-Gazette_ (McKinney, Tex.) (Feb. 10) [8] [ref. to Civil
War] :Tom Johnson. Familiarly known as "Peckerwood Johnson" or "Red-Headed
Tom."

On Wed, Jun 25, 2025 at 9:16 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> Peckerwood (OED, 2., 1928)
>
> 1923 Kansas City Call 14 Dec. 10 (ProQuest)
>
> Mentioning the Negro in an annual message is something unusual and it goes
> without saying that the peckerwoods of the Anglo-Saxon sout are all het up
> over it.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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