Pinko
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Pinko is a derogatory term for a person sympathetic to a Communist Party, but not necessarily a communist.
[edit] History
The word pinko was coined by Time magazine in 1926 as a variant on the noun and adjective pink, which had been used along with parlor pink since the beginning of the 20th century to refer to those of leftish sympathies, usually with an implication of effeteness.[1] In the 1920s, for example, a Wall Street Journal editorial described supporters of the progressive Robert La Follette as “visionaries, ne’er do wells, parlor pinks, reds, hyphenates [foreign-born Americans], soft handed agriculturalists and working men who have never seen a shovel.”.[2]
Pinko and pink were widely used during the Cold War to designate those accused of supporting the Soviet Union, including many of the supporters of Henry Wallace's 1948 presidential campaign with the Progressive Party. The word was predominantly used in the United States, where opposition to Communism grew strong among the population, especially during the era of the McCarthy hearings. One of the most infamous uses of pink is a quotation attributed to Richard Nixon, talking in 1950 about Helen Gahagan Douglas: "She's pink down to her underwear!", referring to the fact that at the time, pink was the main color of women's undergarments. In his presidential campaigns, George Wallace often railed at "the left-wing pinko press" and at "pseudo-pinko-intellectuals."[3][4]
The word pinko likely has its origins in the relations between the colors white and red. Since pink is a lighter shade of red, the color most associated with communism, pink could be thought of as a "lighter form of communism" practiced by mere supporters of Marxism or socialism as opposed to card-carrying communists.
One of the most famous uses of the term in popular culture was the ironic use by Charlie Daniels in his breakthrough 1972 hit "Uneasy Rider." The dope-running hippie narrator is stuck with a flat tire in Jackson, Mississippi. Attempting to avoid a beatdown by the local rednecks, he attempts to deflect attention to one of the locals by accusing him of being "a friend of them long haired, hippy-type, pinko fags" sent by the FBI to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.
Recently, the term was used repeatedly on the television series John Safran vs God when Safran is referring to his target demographic. Safran is likely to have intentionally referenced Daniels' "Uneasy Rider", and notably Safran had on a previous episode infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Joseph J. Firebaugh, "The Vocabulary of 'Time' Magazine", American Speech, 15, 3, October, 1940.
- ^ "Mirrors of Washington", The Wall Street Journal, September 26, 1924.
- ^ "Wallace Campaign Aims at McCarthy Elements", Washington Post, Mar.23, 1964.
- ^ "The Wallace Challenge -- and Opportunity", The Wall Street Journal, Mar. 13, 1972.
