Fwd: origin of word picnic

[Towse]

"James A. Landau" wrote:
>
> In a message dated 12/23/2002 5:14:10 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG writes:
>
> > One of the rather more offensive folk etymologies needs a bit of
> >  debunking. Would some please respond to this claim in full "actually,
> >  no" mode? Directly to the original sender, if you would.
> >
> >  Début du message réexpédié :
> >
> >  > De: "Greg Maccarone" <gamsky at sbcglobal.net>
> >  > Date: Mon 23 Dec 2002  13:18:43 America/New_York
> >  > Objet: origin of word picnic
> >  >
> >  > My daughter (in 12th grade) discussed the origin of the word "picnic"
> >  > with me. To my surprise, a classmate told her it meant "pic a
> >  > []igger". Supposedly, a group of people would meet to eat, and then
> >  > select a person of African descent to be hung from a tree.
> >  >
> >  > I am shocked that this information is out there without any check for
> >  > accuracy. Please help. What do you recommend? Thanks
>
> Here is something from ADS-L that may be relevant:
>
> Subj:         Re: nitty-gritty: racist term?
> Date:   05/15/2002 3:08:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time
> From:   laurence.horn at YALE.EDU (Laurence Horn)
>
> >>... UK police are not allowed to use the term 'nitty gritty' because it
> >>allegedly originally meant the waste at the bottom of a slave ship once
> >>the slaves were taken off.
> >
> >Another silly baseless etymythology, I think.
> >
> >Before further examination of this expression's amazing 250-year
> >politically-charged history, let's see a single citation from before 1950.
> >
> Indeed.  Here's a clip from Michael Quinion's column (see URL below).
> Of course this was before we'd been able to file it under etymythology   ;-)
>
> World Wide Words -- 4 Nov 00

I sent Greg Maccarone a link to Michael Quinion's column that
specifically debunks the origin given for "picnic":
<http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pic1.htm>

Sal
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