Bucky

Created by Unknown User (tjc13), last modified by Unknown User (jmb63) on Apr 14, 2019

/bki/ NN: poor driver. ex: "That bucky just pulled out in front of me," heard in a car traveling on Main St. when a car coming from University Ave. pulled out with little regard for the oncoming traffic. F 02 A dictionary search resulted in one entry. The OED had two spellings for ‘‘bucky’’ that have some connection to the Geneseo usage: ‘‘bucky’’ and ‘‘buckie’’. The entry traces the word to 1719 with the same pronunciation and a definition that fits the above usage: NN: a perverse or refractory person. This is not specific to driving, or maneuvering a team of horses as the date would imply, but a person who drives perversely is a ‘‘bucky’’ by the Geneseo usage and the 1719 definition. A Lexix-Nexis search resulted in names or nicknames of men, always used as a proper noun, not a common noun usage. There were several articles that named professional race car drivers as Bucky, but they all seemed to be fairly good at what they do, and would not warrant a connection to the Geneseo definition. The one name that may have given rise to the negative connotation is found in ‘‘The New York Times’’, R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER (July 3, 1983, Sunday, Late City Final Edition Section 1; Part 1; Page 17, Column 1; Metropolitan Desk). Apparently, he created a three wheeled automobile, the Fuller Dymaxion, which had promise. But in 1935, when one of the prototypes collided with another car and the driver of the Dymaxion was killed, production of R. Buckminster Fuller’s car was put on hold. There is no direct usage of a bad driver being called a bucky, but the name could have come from this inventor’s middle name. A University Wire search resulted in references to University of Wisconsin’s mascot, Bucky Badger. No connection to the Geneseo usage found.Fall 2008- None of those surveyed were able to identify the term in this usage.  Term is obsolete.J. Bloom, A-F, 2019: None of the students were able to identify the term in this usage. This term is still obsolete. 

This post originally created by M Gigante, 2006.

Document generated by Confluence on May 22, 2023 12:37