[Ads-l] Antedating of "Peckerwood"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Gee, I forgot all about those. Oh, well...

JL

On Wed, Jun 25, 2025 at 1:36 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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