Entry from July 18, 2004
Parkie/Parky
A Parks Department employee. It's either "Parkie" or "Parky." It was used more in the past than it is today.
American Speech, vol. 16, no. 3, October 1941, pg. 188:
PARK AND PLAYGROUND EMPLOYEES
Buttercup. The artificially sweet, gushing woman-librarian at the community center.
Park Commissioner, Pennywhistle. A park department employee or watchman who blows his whistle and chases the boys.
Parky, Johnny Greenleaf. A park attendant.
11 September 1964, New York Times, pg. 18:
"That stretch between Fifth and Sixth Avenues is softball grounds," he later told a reporter, "and when we go in there, the parkies {park attendants] throw us out."
18 August 1979, New York Times, pg. 18:
One project, known as "Operation Pied Piper," is deploying young recreation and maintenance aides, inevitably called "parkies," in 85 percent of the city's playgrounds.
9 November 1984, New York Times, pg. B3:
Maintenance workers will stay behind in 73 of the parks that do not have assigned attendants and become permanent employees there--moden-day equivalents of old-time "parkies," workers who were such notable characters in the lives of millions of children who grew up in the city.
American Speech, vol. 16, no. 3, October 1941, pg. 188:
PARK AND PLAYGROUND EMPLOYEES
Buttercup. The artificially sweet, gushing woman-librarian at the community center.
Park Commissioner, Pennywhistle. A park department employee or watchman who blows his whistle and chases the boys.
Parky, Johnny Greenleaf. A park attendant.
11 September 1964, New York Times, pg. 18:
"That stretch between Fifth and Sixth Avenues is softball grounds," he later told a reporter, "and when we go in there, the parkies {park attendants] throw us out."
18 August 1979, New York Times, pg. 18:
One project, known as "Operation Pied Piper," is deploying young recreation and maintenance aides, inevitably called "parkies," in 85 percent of the city's playgrounds.
9 November 1984, New York Times, pg. B3:
Maintenance workers will stay behind in 73 of the parks that do not have assigned attendants and become permanent employees there--moden-day equivalents of old-time "parkies," workers who were such notable characters in the lives of millions of children who grew up in the city.