Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Pilgarlic
Pilgarlic actually does have something to do with garlic! It means bald headed and its etymology (according to my dictionary rather than my scholarly background) is related to the similarities between a bald head and peeled garlic! So there you go. I'll try hard to remember that one next time I see a pilgarlic. Thanks for your well written meanings. Very descriptive and interesting indeed. Magdalene was the favoured one among voters today. Great work!
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It's a word from the coal-mining industry, and is a type of pit prop with a branch (fork) at the top to spread the load of an unstable shaft. It drives from the Welsh language. You'd hear a miner shout something like: "Hey boyo, we're going to lose this seam if you can't shove a couple of pilgarlics down here in no time".
"Pilgarlic" stems from swashbuckling times and was actually a kind of food. The pilgar was a fish that would always get stuck on a rock or shore, high and dry, at low tide. This made it an easy catch for seafaring types who would then lick this delicacy for it's hallucinogenic qualities. So literally pilgar-lick.
PS. Love your work Word Imp!
Once in a while you may see a nervous individual loitering suspiciously around a post box for some time before popping an envelope into the slot with a quick, tentative flick. This would be the behaviour of a chronic pilgarlic which is the fear of having ones' hand grabbed by an italian chef hiding inside the pillar box.
This is probably why one doesn't come across the word very often!
pilgarlic dates from the 11th Century, and was originally Pwl Garleac, commonly known as the "French Pool", and situated on the Welsh/English border, where a colony of Frenchmen lived. It never actually contained water, but was a plain where they often gathered for social occasions. The local populance assumed since they were foriegn that they must be up to no good.
A pilgarlic is therefore a gathering place for suspicious or unruly people - these days the sort of places where "yobs" hang out.
the checking and then re-checking to see if there is any money sitting in the coin return receptacle in public pay phones, newspaper vendor machines, etc.
when you jump off a cliff and land in a pit of garlic
PILGARLIC IS THE IMAGINARY AND ILLUSIVE CREATURE THAT LURKS WITHIN THE CONFINES OF A PRETENIOUS MIND FILLED WITH CRAVINGS FOR GARLIC LADEN MUSHROOMS.
Dw i'n hapus iawn i weld Cymreag yma, ond mae Brian a Maalie yn gwallus.
I'm quite happy to see Welsh here, but Brian and Maalie are incorrect.
Indeed 'pwl' is Welsh for pool, but French is the Welsh word "Ffrengig." "Boyo" might indeed have been heard in the mines, but is Wenglish, and certainly not Welsh.
The Welsh source of our word pilgarlic is:
pwl - pool
gyrr - herd
llyg - lay, of the laity
pwl-gar-llyg is a negative reference to a group lay street preachers. In the late 19th century they stood by the city fountains calling people to repentance, and baptizing converts in the fountains. Today the reference has come to mean anyone who gets pushy preachy - as in "Ach y fi. Me mam's gone pilgarlic on me."
The similarity to the word garlic has given power to the myth, that the word comes from the idea that a preachy person could ward off vampires, as in "He'll drive off bats. He's a real pilgarlic, isn't he?"
Pastor Phil:
It's a fair cop! However, I didn't expect anyone to think Garlaec was Welsh, since it has vowels in it ;-) That's why the "pool" was on the border...
A pilgarlic is an instrument of torture. It actually looks a bit like a modern garlic press, but was invented way before garlic presses were.
But, like a garlic press it is indeed used for pressing. Your fingers in fact.
Fingers were inserted into the little bowl thingy and a dirty great crusher came down on top of them.
Pilgarlic. An instrument of torture to the fingers.
Pilgarlic is commonly used in disciplining young children when spewing naughty words from their mouths. It is glycerine pill that contains garlic oil. The parent simply squeezes the garlic juice right from the pilgarlic onto the tongue of the rude youngster.
"Young Mortimer thought it was okay to call his mummy a MEANY after being told twice just minutes before NOT to call his mummy names. Running out of patience, Mummy squeezed the old pilgarlic onto his tongue and Mortimer ran screaming from the room never to call his mummy a meanie again."
Pilgarlic is the state of resembling, in appearance or deed, a Pilgar. The Pilgars were a group of people who inhabited the northwest region of ancient Gaul, and while in many ways somewhat primitive, they were known as fierce fighters.
Stephen from Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
http://stephen-has-spoken.blogspot.com/
A pilgarlic is a small hand tool with a slightely roughened grating surface on one side, designed for the purpose of removing those unsightly bobbly bits (pills) from woolen sweaters.
Deet happens to be age six. I suspect he knows what he's talking about! Maybe not a garlic or onion patch, but possibly a cactus patch!
A Scottish word of abuse meaning 'keeper of the peace' or policeman.
At the point of arrest, Suggsy McGarry exclaimed
"Right, tha's me ya peshin' pilgarlic, ye!"
He got an extra 30 days.
Beer infused with just a kiss of garlic. German.
Pilgarlic is a term given to people who have a hard time swallowing pills. They make a sort of a gargling-almost gagging- sound trying to swallow that pill.
The pilgarlic took a sip of water before she popped the pill in her mouth, hoping that it would go down easier. Instead, her throat tightened up and she had to swallow hard.
Pilgarlic means very tasty... a word which has been modified to the more snappy phrase "finger lickin' good" by a fast food chain who shall remain nameless.
Pilgarlic is the bar term for pickled garlic eggs. It has been shortened (slurred) over the years by patrons who have had a few too many beverages and think that a nice pilgarlic will settle their stomach. For your information, it usually does the opposite.
The reign of Pilgarletzacoatl, fourth monarch of the third epoch of the Teonlatli Age in the Maya Empire was known as the Pilgarlic era.
A popular and successful monarch, Pilgarletzacoatl's dynasty has had the highest impact on today's teens. His greatest acheivement didn't have to do with roads, conquests, pyramids, or writing. Rather, he is best known for implementing a standardized system of rules for deciding who gets to sit in the front seat of a four seater chariot.
Until the Pilgarlic Era, fights were fought amongst friends if one thought he deserved the best seat more than another. Pilgarletzacoatl turned the contest into a fun but harmless game known as "shotgun". The first friend in a group to yell, "shotgun" was always awarded the front. The rules of the game had to be refined when Maya youths started calling shotgun for the way home before the chariot had even left for the event--usually a human sacrifice.
The Pilgarlic Era is also known as the Pax Mesoamericana.
Shotgun rules still apply today.
ps. new baby born friday, Sept. 28th at 3:50am.
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MAD
Whoa TMF! Beautiful family!!!
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