Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 21:15:01 CDT
From: "Donald M. Lance"
Subject: Re: peckerwood and dope
A man who grew up in Westminster SC (he says 'Westminister') is doing some
yard work for me. I asked him about 'peckerwood'. His initial response
was that it just meant 'stupid' because"a peckerwood beats his head against
a tree all the time." The next day he commented that it was also a bit
of an insult. So the "reversed form" isn't just for references to people.
He also said his family used the term 'dope' for soft drinks. He was
born in 1931, and is white. Westminster is west-northwest of Greenville,
near the Georgia border, northwest of Clemson.
Wayne Glowka remembered dope as the glue used in building model airplanes.
I think it may have been marketed with that term. If you sniffed it "it
would do bad things to your brain." DMLance