Photo of the Week

Out of a private photo album of T. Edward King and Arthur R. Parker - Titled a few reminders of that eventful trip to the Panama Canal of board the P.R.R. Co's S.S. Ancon, June 19th - July 4, 1910. One of these owners wrote this note under the photo. I learned something today about the word Spiggoty:

"Spiggoty means a Spanish language speaker who cannot command English. Literally, spiggoty is a mocking imitation of “no speaka de English,” and arose among English speakers in Panama around 1900. The shortened form of the word spiggoty is spig. An alteration of spig is spic. If the native Spanish speaker speaks English the individual cannot be called a spic.

“Spic” has nothing to do with the political label “Hispanic” as is erroneously thought." - From the Urban Dictionary website.

The early Panama Police wore this English Bobby style head covering in the early days. The English influence could have come from the English Colony Caribbean Islands.