The expression is "piecard." http://www.riprense.com/Dailynewspagehaas2.htm
I had heard it as more derogatory, but according to the above, it originally connoted old-fashioned trade unionism: "HAAS: I was red-baited out of my job with the union. I was displaced by right-wing people in the union. I was the piecard in the union. The piecard was the guy who ran the union and he would hand out to the guys who were unemployed, looking for jobs, who were members of the union, he would hand out a pie card, which meant you could go across the street to get a cup of coffee and a piece of pie. This was just an old union idea that we all used to say. An old-fashioned AFL-CIO thing, to hand out pie cards." mbs -----Original Message----- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gil Skillman Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 11:08 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Query > At various times I've seen the word "picard" used in contexts which > seemed to make it a rough synonym for "scab" and similar terms. But > even the OED doesn't list it. Does anyone here know its history, > origins, and meaning? > > Carrol The Picards were a group of heretics to the Catholic faith, so named because they came the Picardy region of France. A heretic is someone who strays from the cause, so I suppose the application to scabs isn't so farfetched. Gil
