Piney is a historically derogatory exonym for the inhabitants of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, but it is now also sometimes used as an endonym by them, humorously or otherwise.
Pineys were further demonized after two eugenics studies in the early 20th century, which depicted them as congenital idiots and criminals, most notably the research performed on "The Kallikak Family" by Henry H. Goddard[1] and Elizabeth Kite.
[2] In a 1939 guidebook, the Federal Writers' Project largely endorsed Kite's eugenicist and ahistorical depiction of Pineys, and added that "a staff correspondent of the Newark Evening News reported that U. S. Navy blimps must be careful in their flights over the area.
The Piney bootleggers, suspecting that the low-flying blimps are seeking illicit stills, are quick on the trigger; frequently the small dirigibles return to Lakehurst from training flights with bullet holes in the fabric.
Today, pineys tend to wear the label as a badge of honor,[4] much like the term "redneck" has been embraced in the Appalachian Mountains and the Southern United States.