Pickerninny

[Dollie]

Does anyone know what a Pickerninny is - my mum used to sing me a lullaby about a little Pickerninny going off to sleep, but I've never really known what one was and she doesn't know either. A friend of mine thinks it was an old, American expression for a little black baby - can anyone help? Thanking you in anticipation.

[noxlumos]

Yeah your friend is right and the song is here in all it's un-pc glory.

http://www.bonus.com/bonus/nav/scooter/scooterize.htmp?l oc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebonus%2Ecom%2Fcontour%2Fbartlettqu %2Fhttp%40%40%2Fwww%2Ebartleby%2Ecom%2F248%2F1469%2Ehtml &useragent=Mozilla%2F4%2E0+%28compatible%3B+MSIE+6%2 E0%3B+Windows+NT+5%2E1%29&refv=1&referrer=http%3 A%2F%2Fuk%2Esearch%2Eyahoo%2Ecom%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dgo%2Bto% 2Bsleep%2Bmy%2Blittle%2Bpickaninny%26sp%3D1%26fr2%3Dsp%2 Dtop%26SpellState%3Dn%2D4279605036%5Fq%2DDt%2EMUgCdl0ALg S2m4TwbqAABAA%2540%2540&entry=bonus&SERVER=www%2 Ebonus%2Ecom

[Dollie]

wow - thank you ever so

[noxlumos]

Not sure what went on with that link but that's definately not it.Try this instead.

http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/Br3116.html

[jno]

your friend is right. Do not use the word in 2006; it is regarded as a relic of the days of slavery.

[Tatty Rollox]

Pickaninny (also pickaninnie) is a pidgin word form which may be derived from the Portuguese pequenino ("little"). In the Southern United States, it is used to refer to African American children and is believed to have originated with the character of Topsy in Uncle Tom's Cabin. It is in widespread use in Melanesian pidgin and creole languages such as Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea, as the word for "child" (or just young, as in the phrase pikinini pik, meaning piglet). In Caribbean English, the words pickney and pickney-negger (pronounced "pick-knee" and "pick-knee nay-ga" respectively) are used to refer to children. In Nigerian and Cameroonian Pidgin English, the term is "picken". Black people themselves refer to their children as pickaninnies and it is not an ethnic slur to anyone.
Here is a mother with her pickaninny.

[Dollie]

Thank you all for your info - and thank Tatty for the brilliant picture of mom and her baby.

[Lakeslass]

Had trouble with the links. Here's how I remember it -

Go to sleep my baby,Close your pretty eyes,Angels up above you, peeping at you dearie from the skies.

Great big moon is shining,stars begin to peep, Time for little pickaninnies to go to sleep.

[Ouisch]

Tatty Rollox, Black people also use the N-word to refer to each other, but that doesn't make it any less of a slur if used by others. Pickaninny is definitely considered to be an un-PC term.

[Tatty Rollox]

Thank you for your message, which has given me a very good reason to reach for the gin later tonight.