What is "city slicker"

n. (context idiomatic English) One accustomed to a city or urban lifestyle or unsuited to life in the country.

n. a city dweller with sophisticated manners and clothing [syn: city boy]

City slicker is an idiomatic expression for someone accustomed to a city or urban lifestyle and unsuited to life in the country. The term was typically used as a term of derision by rural Americans who regarded them with amusement. It may refer to a " fop", or it may be a derogatory term for a person wearing inappropriate city-type business attire, particularly with a brusque or condescending attitude in areas where local residents are offended by an arrogant attitude combined with disdain and lack of respect for rural people and lifestyles. The term can be used to describe people who are perceived as dishonest, arrogant, or simply naive.

City slicker was derisively given to people from the urban Eastern United States when they took on an attitude that their lifestyle and access to the culture of city life gave them superior intelligence. Rural people, particularly those in the west, notably cowboys, often used the perception of a snobbish attitude as justification for playing practical jokes on such people.

The archetypal city slicker is depicted as a spoiled selfish lazy rich person who considers people living on farms to be poor and ignorant. They are depicted as being unaccustomed to hard labour and as a result, tire very easily and complain when working. City slickers appeared often as deceitful characters in U.S. comic strips and movies before the middle of the 20th century, but usually to be "outsmarted" by the native wisdom and common sense of the locals or to somehow otherwise get their just deserts in the end.

The term is still used in rural areas today. Related terms include dude, tenderfoot, and greenhorn. Antonyms include yokel, bumpkin and hick.

City slicker and similar can mean:

• city slicker, a pejorative name for some sorts of town-raised or city-raised person
• City Slickers, a 1991 comedy movie.
• City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold, the 1994 sequel to City Slickers.
• The City Slicker, a 1918 film starring Harold Lloyd.
• The City Slickers, the backup band for Spike Jones.
• City Slicker, a malt beverage brewed in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on the banks of the Mississippi by City Brewery, and served in a 40 ounce bottle.
• City Slickers, a financial column which appeared in the Daily Mirror during the 1990s, which was edited by Piers Morgan, James Hipwell and Anil Bhoyrul