define this term: "pinko"

[FrontlineWarrior]

As in... "You stupid fairy tale, wonderland pinko liberal socialist"

What does "pinko" in this context mean or refer to?

 

[spanky]

i'm guessing like...."faggity"....

now someone define "faggity"....

(no, it does not describe me!)

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

pinko=commie

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

yeah i was thinking that too... but it's so commonly used with communist or socialist
as in: "pinko communist" or "pinko socialist"
so i don't think it fits...

 

[CplHicks]

I'm pretty sure pinko=commie. Pinko is referring to the color red.

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

thanks bruno, but can you explain how that term arose, or what exactly it means... more specifically than just "communist"

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

er, should have said, ive always heard it as associated with commie. dunno if that's right or not

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

From m-w.com -

<< Main Entry: pinko
Pronunciation: 'pi[ng]-(")kO
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural pink·os also pink·oes
Date: 1936
: a person who holds advanced liberal or moderately radical political or economic views. >>



http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?pinko001.wav=pinko

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

ahh.. i guess "redo" didn't have the right ring to it?

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

wow this is the answer forum tonight all the replies you need at 3:30 am

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

yeah this is impressive. and it's not even part of the subscription package heh

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

[Early 20th century. Formed from pink, alluding to red in the sense "communist."]
http://dictionary.msn.com/find/entry.asp?search=pinko

there is my answer. why i didn't look for a dictionary term in my web search i don't know.

 

[hkssupra69]

pinko is a communist sympathizer back in the mid 1900's. If you were a commie you were a red but if you only sympathized with them you'd be pink or a "pinko", that's where it came from.

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

hksupra69,

thanks, that clears it up very nicely!

 

[h8red]

hkssupra69 is exactly right

 

[Nitemare]

yes, pinko mean't a communist sympathizer or helper. Also in the end, it mean't anyone who sided against the US.

For more research...look into McCarthyism, or Joseph McCarthy. He is one of the ones that started the anti-communinst crusade.