Whats the origin of the slang term “Pikey”?
Pikey is a pejorative slang term used primarily in the United Kingdom, used originally to refer to Irish travellers. Contemporary usage In recent years, the definition has become loose and is sometimes used to refer to a wide section of the (generally urban) underclass of the country, or merely a person of any social class who “lives on the cheap”. This seems to be the meaning intended by Stephen Fry in an episode of QI, grouping together “hoodies and pikeys and chavs”, and intimating that these people are of a sort who “go out on the town, beating people up and drinking Bacardi Breezers”. The term is considered to have negative connotations; even when it refers to others, many people still consider it to be derogatory and offensive. “Pikey” is frequently used as an adjective, as in “he lives on a pikey estate”, “those clothes look pikey” or “(name of cheap shop) is a pikey shop”. However, “pikey” is also occasionally used as a verb, a synonym for “steal”, as in “Someone’s pikeyed my b
