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| | Columns posted 10-25-02 |
 | | Though "roughneck" when it first appeared was certainly a term of condemnation, by the early 20th century it was being used more in the sense of simply "a rowdy" or "a brash, uncultivated man," often one engaged in some sort of difficult and usually risky labor. |
 | | When "mappa" was filtered through Old French, the "m" became an "n," and "nappa" entered English in the 15th century as "nape," meaning "piece of cloth." Then all we had to do was add the ending "kin," meaning "small," and "napkin," a small but very useful piece of cloth, was born. |
 | | The focus on "neck" may be completely arbitrary (in which case the term might as well have been "rough-head" or the like), or "roughneck" may have referred to the unclean, unshaven and possibly scarred neck characteristic of the breed. |
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