"Onions and garlic"?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 11/18/2007 10:06 PM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>>What is known about the phrase "onions and garlic", used
>>figuratively?  I find it in Massachusetts near the end of the 17th
>>century in reference to two messages, sent together to the king, that
>>are in a sense inconsistent with each other: one asks for military
>>support, the other for greater independence from the empire:
>>
>>"the representatives, though they send to the king for ships and men,
>>yet address him at the same time for their old charter. That is their
>>onions and garlic."
>>
>>My only thought is that the writer is using the phrase ironically --
>>while onions and garlic frequently appear together harmoniously in
>>food dishes, here the two messages are not compatible.
>
>I don't know much about it, but of course I can make a perhaps naive
>speculation.
>
>Without knowing the broader context, I would speculate that "onions
>and garlic" form an inseparable unit here, meaning either (1) simply
>"seasonings" or (2) "strong-smelling/piquant/obtrusive seasonings". I
>would not think that "onions" is being opposed to or contrasted with
>"garlic". I.e., I would speculate that "request for ships and men"
>implicitly = "meat [and potatoes/turnips/etc.]" or so (the expected,
>the basics), while "request for the charter" = "[plenty of] onions
>and garlic", an addendum which makes the overall dish more
>"flavorful", perhaps more so than the king would prefer.

The request from the Assembly (lower house) of the Massachusetts
legislature was for military assistance in fighting the French and
their Indians.  The request for the charter was for restoration of
the original charter (1629) of the Massachusetts Bay colony, which
conferred more power to the people and the Assembly, and thus greater
independence from the king and Parliament, than the current charter
(of 1691).  These two requests would not be an inseparable unit; they
are quite discordant.

Joel

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