Silmarillion’s got a post over at Après moi, la déluge about tinkers and Jenisch and … quinquis. Here the following perfectly reasonable explanation of “kinky” is given:

Kink, nautical term, from Du. kink “twist in a rope” (also found in Fr. and Swed.), probably related to O.N. kika “to bend at the knee” (see kick). Figurative sense of “odd notion, mental twist” first recorded in Amer.Eng., 1803, in writings of Thomas Jefferson; kinky “sexually perverted” first recorded 1959, earlier it was used in the sense of “eccentric” (1889).

As per my comment, the first entries in Hispanic corpses by these delinquents are recent, but I wonder whether more extensive reading might not turn up older examples.

[
Hopelessly irrelevant, but amusing nonetheless, here is part of a piece by "Chistera" from the edition of the satirical El Codorniz (The Quail) published on July 24 1966:

Golly gosh, what an invention Mrs Mary Quant has launched on us! Mary Quant, 33 and English, has invented the miniskirt, an invention that is no mere turkey snot [sorry, that's ridiculously literal; moco de pavo actually means "not nuffing" and is thieves' jargon, moco referring to the dribble of chain left in one's pocket after one's watch, the pavo, has been nicked]. For a start, it got her an OBE, which is one up on the Beatles [fact-checking was expensive back then]. The Empire is capable of telling the difference between growing your hair and shortening your skirt.

Mrs Mary Quant, who may have harboured doubts as to the explosive success of her invention, sought to adorn it with sonorous appellations: “Lolita look”, “Chelsea look”, “kinki look”… The public stripped it of this aristocracy and left it with the democratic name of “miniskirt”.

What is surprising is that she was decorated for “her contribution to exports”. Mrs Mary Quant has an annual turnover of some 500 million pesetas [worth more then than now, alas]. So much with so little! It’s quite possible that she thought up the miniskirt just so Manchester’s textile workers could work a forty-hour week without her running short of cloth.

The miniskirt has already made its entrance at Ascot, the high church of British elegance. We can imagine one of those self-satisfied gentlemen–grey morning coat and top hat–asking himself, “Now where have I seen that skirt before?” The answer is simple: his wife wore it to dance the Charleston.

Original

¡Vaya con la señora Mary Quant, qué invento nos ha lanzado! Mary Quant, 33 años, inglesa, ha inventado la minifalda, un invento que no es moco de pavo. Por lo pronto le ha valido el nombramiento de Oficial de la orden del Imperio Británico. Un grado superior al que se concedía a los “Beatles”. El Imperio sabe distinguir entre alargar el cabello y acortar la falda. La señora Mary Quant, que quizá dudara del explosivo éxito de su invento, quiso florearlo con nombres sonoros: “Lolita-look”, “Chelsea-look”, “kinki-look”… La parroquia le quitó pronto aristocracia para dejarlo en la democrática denominación de minifalda. Lo chocante es que la han condecorado por “su contribución a las exportaciones”. La señora Mary Quant, hace un volumen anual de negocio de unos quinientos millones de pesetas. Y eso, a base de poca tela. A lo mejor se le ocurrió la minifalda para que los obreros de los telares de Manchester pudieran trabajar la semana de cuarenta horas sin que a ella le faltase género.

La minifalda, ya ha entrado en el hipódromo de Ascott, templo máximo de la elegancia británica. Quizás alguno de aquellos encopetados caballeros -chaqué gris y “tubo”- se preguntara:

- ¿Dónde he visto yo antes esa falda?

Era fácil responderle: le llevaba su esposa para bailar el charlestón.

]

Tags: gipsy, kinky, quinqui
Categories: Les bourgeois

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