Origin of Phrases - K
Kike
I asked a rabbi who gave me the following answer. He says he's pretty sure this is where it came from: "Keikl" (pronounced KY-kle) is yiddish word meaning "circle." Jewish immigrants would sign their papers at Ellis Island with a Keikl or a Keikleh (a "little circle"), since they were unwilling to make an "X." Once they started working as storekeepers or peddlers, they continued to use keikls instead of X's to sign account books and other documents. So Jews became known to Ellis Island immigration inspectors, and others throughout the country as "keikl men" or "kikes."