Oh, *pie* card. That's a whole different thing. As Max suggests, it doesn't refer to scabs but to certain union officials. The negative twist on it is that, in old labor union slang, it means in particular a *corrupt* union officer.
And here I thought Carrol was talking about some European synonym for "scab." Gil > 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 >
