A Fort Worth listener wonders about a claim she saw in a 1930s magazine. The article said that traditionally, a picket line was an area between the front lines of two opposing armies where soldiers might safely venture out to pick berries without fear of being attacked. Might that be connected to the modern sense of picket line meaning a group of striking workers or protesters? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Picket Lines”
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Trish calling from Fort Worth, Texas.
Hi, Trish. Welcome.
Hello, Trish.
What are you calling us about?
Well, recently I was reading a very old copy of Cornette magazine from 1937.
Catching up, are you?
Yeah.
And I read an article that had a name something like The Last Gentlemanly War, and it referred to the picket line.
And the picket line, as they kind of described it, was a place between the two front lines where one of the soldiers might get up and begin to pick berries because they had very little food and certainly they needed those wild vitamins.
And when they did that, it was not appropriate to be shot at by the other side.
And then others would join them from the other side and they would talk.
Oh, really? Sort of like that Christmas truce or whatever it was?
Yes, yes. That kind of a thing.
And so I wondered how that use of a picket line related to our current use of a picket line as it relates to a strike.
Oh, it’s really interesting.
The word picket has a lot of different connections to a lot of different words we have today.
It is a coincidence that they were picking berries on the picket line.
The picking of berries has nothing to do whatsoever with the word picket line.
Yeah, it would have been a great explanation, but…
But you’re on to something there that a picket line is something with a strong military connection.
The word picket starts in French in about 1380, and then it appears in English in about 1600.
And it came into English from French meaning a stake.
That is, you know, a sharp piece of wood stuck into the ground.
And then later, it became to refer to a stake used in a stockade.
You know what a stockade is?
Yes.
Okay, sure.
It’s an enclosure for cattle.
And by 1700 or so, picket was used to refer to a stake for tethering horses.
And then shortly thereafter, it was used for a military detachment.
And the connection there is that not only were pickets used to stake your horses in the military, but they were used to enclose your camp in the military.
And a bunch of soldiers standing in a row look very much like pickets, which is a bunch of stakes stuck in the ground used to fence something off.
And then by 1820 or so, it was used to refer to strikers, people who were seeking better working conditions, picketers.
And they were so-called also after their resemblance to a group of pickets, a row of upright stakes, but also because they were kind of like a mob of soldiers or detachment of soldiers.
And interestingly enough, and coincidentally, they carry pickets with placards or signs on them.
Right.
So crazy stuff there.
All of these different paths that these words picket have taken, but none of them whatsoever are related to the word pick as in to pick berries.
Oh, too bad.
Yeah, but you know what a great story, though?
What a great story about in the time of war, the two sides can meet over some blackberry bushes or what have you.
Right, right.
Because I ferment those things, and everybody just might get along.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A little hooch and a cop, and, you know, the north and south are friends again.
Trish, this is all very interesting.
Take care of yourself.
I love the program.
Thank you so much.
Oh, our pleasure to serve you.
Bye-bye.
Okay.
Bye-bye.
Thanks, Trish.
Bye-bye.
Well, what old magazines are you reading and what kind of language stuff are you finding in there?
Strange words, interesting usage, possible etymologies, absurd word histories.
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