Saturday, December 17, 2011

What does it mean to "keep dixie," and where did this phrase originate?

As far as I know, it means a criminal who is keeping watch or serving as a lookout. (The one who does this is called "the specky man".) This is a slang expression that is used both in London and the southern United States, but it is not very common. I don't know the etymology. Usually, in cases such as this, there used to be more to the phrase, and it was dropped over time. If I had to guess, it might have once been something like, "Keep Dixie safe"-- or something like that.

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