Talk:Picnic

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Untitled[edit]

I am starting off a talk page for this article. Capitalistroadster 10:02, 2 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned it's use as an acronym that IT Depts. commonly use. It stands for Problem In Chair Not In Computer Gabblack 19:04, 8 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Never heard of that one. Why don't you add it to the language section? Lotsoflife 21:10, 8 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

16th Century Text[edit]

The intro mentions a 16th century text, but then refers to a book published in 1692. 1692 is near the end of the 17th century. Is this the same text referred to in the prior paragraph? If so, it should be changed to say "17th century text"
SSherris 16:10, 8 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That edit would appear to have been done now. The 17th Century text in question: The first usage of the word is traced to the 1692 edition of Tony Willis, Origines de la Langue Française seems questionable. Tony Willis sounds neither French nor 17th Century; try to Google it and you end up being pointed back at this page. http://www.etymonline.com/ has this to say: picnic (n.) 1748 (in Chesterfield's "Letters"), but rare before c.1800 as an English institution; originally a fashionable pot-luck social affair, not necessarily out of doors; from French piquenique (1690s), perhaps a reduplication of piquer "to pick, peck," from Old French (see pike (n.2)), or the second element may be nique "worthless thing," from a Germanic source. Figurative sense of "something easy" is from 1886.

German Wiki[edit]

I'm having trouble with this article because contributors attribute its origin to French, c. 16th/17th century, while the Deutsch Wikipedia entry on "Picknick" says that the earliest use was in Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decamerone (1353) and shortly thereafter it appeared in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (c. 1387). Please help. See http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picknick --- Trudi? Gekritzl 00:45, 24 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Follow-up - mea culpa - I had questioned the French origin, but after looking through Project Gutenberg I realized I had misunderstood the German Wiki. While it described outdoor dining references in the 1300s, the word "picnic" isn't mentioned in The Decamerone nor Canterbury Tales. Gekritzl 01:15, 24 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the two first citations are:

"1748 LD. CHESTERFIELD Let. 29 Oct. (1932) (modernized text) IV. 1255, I like the description of your pic-nic [in Germany; 1774 Pic-nic], where I take it for granted that your cards are only to break the formality of a circle. c1800 E. C. KNIGHT Autobiogr. I. 45 We stayed here [i.e. at Toulon] till the 17th [Feb. 1777] and on the previous day went to a ‘pique-nique’ at a little country house not far from the town."

If Chaucer had used the word or something similar, the OED would certainly have used it. Thus I think that the German version is dubious unless sources are used. Other sources such as this also indicate that the word comes from the late 17th- early 18th century. Capitalistroadster 01:04, 24 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately there may be some truth to the word "picnic" refering to the lynching of African Ameicians in the South. Many historical pictures of lynchings are shown of white racists lounging, smiling, taking photographs with burning bodies, and eating barbeque at a "picnic". Research dates the word back to the French; however it may be assummed that researching the term "picnic" in reference to lynching would just reopen the inhumane stain of white America. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.111.48.245 (talk) 18:12, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, there's not any truth to it. The fact that some people were vile enough to consider a lynching "family entertainment" that they would bring the kids and pack a lunch doesn't have anything to do with what the word picnic refers to or the words origin. Public executions as entertainment go a long ways back, they used to be popular in Europe. Of course, deriving entertainment from a public execution is vile enough, but deriving enterainment from a lynching is even more vile. But it doesn't have anything to do with the word picnic.--RLent (talk) 16:50, 10 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Borrowed Text[edit]

If you check out reference 2 (the urban legend story linking picnics with lynching of blacks), some of the text will sound awfully familiar to that of this article. Jmdeur (talk) 18:11, 18 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Censorship[edit]

The word 'n****r' should be uncensored to 'nigger'. Wikipedia is not censored. An automated filter prevents me from making this change myself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.249.200.166 (talk • contribs) 26 January 2012 (UTC)


External links modified (February 2018)[edit]

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Gallicized[edit]

The article has the phrase "Gallicized Lord Chesterfield". I don't see how he is Gallicized, and given that the discussion is really about how picnic is an anglicized version of pique-nique I found the adjective confusing. If someone could show how he is Gallicized, I would withdraw my comment. I'm a newbie, so forgive me if this is the wrong way to add this comment. JonMar50 (talk) 12:54, 17 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Completely different sort of picnic[edit]

The article had a lovely description of a picnic in a war setting. Here it is:

In Fernando Arrabal's Picnic in the Field, the young and inexperienced soldier Zepo is visited unexpectedly by his devoted parents. Despite the war setting they have a cheerful picnic together.

Unfortunately, the editor neglected to add the END to the story. And while the editor was not wrong in their entry, compare my updated version: 


Here's my updated version, just compare the two. It perhaps illustrates the importance of WHEN you finish telling a story. Finish early and it might be a happy ending but finish later and it reads utterly differently.

ing off a talk page for this article. Capitalistroadster 10:02, 2 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned it's use as an acronym that IT Depts. commonly use. It stands for Problem In Chair Not In Computer Gabblack 19:04, 8 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Never heard of that one. Why don't you add it to the language section? Lotsoflife 21:10, 8 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]
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