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other useshatnote|For the Wikipedia picnic event, see Wikipedia:Wiknic .A picnic is a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors ( Al Fresco dining|al fresco or en plein air ), ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park , beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance, and usually in summer . Descriptions of picnics show that the idea of a meal that was jointly contributed and was enjoyed out-of-doors were essential to a picnic from the early 19th century.Mary Ellen W. Hern, "Picnicking in the Northeastern United States, 1840-1900", Winterthur Portfolio 24 .2/3 (Summer - Autumn 1989), pp. 139-152.
Picnics are often family-oriented but can also be an intimate occasion between two people or a large get-together such as company picnics and church picnics. It is also sometimes combined with a cookout, usually a form of barbecue ; either grilling ( griddle|griddling , gridiron (cooking)|gridironing , or charbroiling ), braising (by combining a charbroil or gridiron grill with a broth-filled pot), baking , or a combination of all of the above.
On romantic and family picnics a picnic basket and a blanket (to sit or recline on) are usually brought along. Outdoor game s or some other form of entertainment are common at large picnics.
Some picnics are a potluck , an entertainment at which each person contributed some recipe|dish to a common table for all to share. When the picnic is not also a Barbecue|cookout , the food eaten is rarely hot, instead taking the form of Delicatessen|deli sandwich es, finger food , fresh fruit , salad , cold meats and accompanied by chilled wine or champagne (wine)|champagne or soft drink s.
Etymology
The first usage of the word is traced to the 1692 edition of Tony Willis, Origines de la Langue Française , which mentions pique-nique as being of recent origin; it marks the first appearance of the word in print. The term was used to describe a group of people dining in a restaurant who brought their own wine . For long a picnic retained the connotation of a meal to which everyone contributed something. Whether picnic is actually based on the verb piquer which means 'pick' or 'peck' with the rhyming nique meaning "thing of little importance" is doubted; the Oxford English Dictionary says it is of unknown provenance. The word predates lynching in the United States ; claims that it is derived from a shortening of 'pick a nigger' are untrue.cite web|url= http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/picnic.asp |title=Etymology of Picnic |publisher=snopes.com |date= |accessdate=2009-12-07
The word picnic first appeared in English in a letter of the Gallicized Lord Chesterfield in 1748 ( OED ), who associates it with card-playing, drinking and conversation, and may have entered the English language from this French word.The German language|German Picknick , nor part of lord Chesterfield's cultural sphere, may simply be a parallel borrowing from French language|French pique-nique . The practice of an elegant meal eaten out-of-doors, rather than a harvester worker's dinner in the harvest field, was connected with respite from hunting from the Middle Ages ; the excuse for the pleasurable outing of 1723 in Lemoyne's painting ( illustration, left ) is still offered in the context of a hunt.
Usage
In British and American English, the phrase "no picnic" is used to describe a difficult or trying situation or activity. For example, "Driving in rush hour traffic is no picnic."
In established public parks, a picnic area generally includes picnic table s and possibly other items related to eating outdoors, such as built-in grill (cooking)|grill s, tap water|water faucets , garbage containers, and restroom s.
In Information Technology , a "picnic" is an acronym meaning "Problem In Chair, Not In Computer." Help desk workers use "picnic" to refer to a situation where they helped someone fix a problem with their computer where there really was no problem with the computer, but the user was to blame for the problem.
Related historical events
After the French Revolution in 1789, royal parks became open to the public for the first time. Picnicking in the parks became a popular activity amongst the newly Suffrage|enfranchised citizens.
Early in the 19th century, a fashionable group of Londoners (including Edwin Young) formed the ' Picnic Society '. Members met in the Pantheon, London|Pantheon on Oxford Street . Each member was expected to provide a share of the entertainment and of the refreshments with no one particular host. Interest in the society waned in the 1850s as the founders died.English picnics are described in Georgina Battiscombe, English picnics , (London: Harvill Press) 1949; there is also a National Trust Book of Picnics , 1982.
From the 1830s, Romantic American landscape painting of spectacular scenery often included a group of picnickers in the foreground. An early American illustration of the picnic is Thomas Cole 's The Pic-Nic of 1846 ( Brooklyn Museum of Art ).Mary Ellen W. Hern, "Picnicking in the Northeastern United States, 1840-1900", Winterthur Portfolio 24 .2/3 (Summer - Autumn 1989), pp. 139-152, illus. fig. 1. In it a guitarist serenades the genteel social group in the Hudson River Valley with the Catskills visible in the distance. Cole's well-dressed young picnickers have finished their repast, served from splint baskets on blue-and-white china, to stroll about in the woodland and boat on the lake.
The image of picnics as a peaceful social activity can be utilised for political protest too. In this context, a picnic functions as a temporary occupation of significant public territory. A famous example of this is the Pan-European Picnic held on both sides of the Hungarian / Austrian border on the 19 August 1989 as part of the struggle towards German reunification .
In 2000, a 600-mile-long picnic took place from coast to coast in France to celebrate the first Bastille Day of the new Millennium. In the United States, likewise, the Independence Day (United States)|4 July celebration of United States Declaration of Independence|American independence is a popular day for a picnic. In Italy the favourite picnic day is Easter Monday .
Cultural representations of picnics
Perhaps the most famous depiction of a picnic is '' The Luncheon on the Grass|Le déjeuner sur l'herbe , painted by Édouard Manet in 1862. Quote|"A book of verse beneath the bough, A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou
Ah, wilderness were paradise enow!" | Omar Khayyam |in his 12th century Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam|Rubaiyat http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story? oid=oid:267618 Austin Chronicle article A Loaf of Bread, a Jug of Wine - The simple but elegant art of picnic pairing published APRIL 22, 2005 says "But what constitutes the Perfect Picnic? Some sandwiches you throw together or grab and go? An elegant plate of poached salmon accompanied by a fruit and cheese platter? A couple of dogs on a grill? Each of these menus has its charms, but it doesn't get any better than the outdoor dining menu devised by Omar Khayyam in his 12th century The Rubaiyat." The active Canadian children's health association Pediatric Investigators Collaborative Network on Infections in Canada carry the acronym PICNIC.
The Wind in the Willows , by Kenneth Grahame begins with a boating picnic enjoyed by Rat and Mole that exemplifies an English tradition:
"The Rat brought the boat alongside the bank, tied it up, helped awkward Mole safely ashore, and swung out the picnic basket. The Mole begged to be allowed to unpack it all by himself. He took out all the mysterious packets one by one and arranged their contents, gasping 'Oh my& #33; Oh my!' at each fresh surprise."
In literature
From Charles Dickens ' The Mystery of Edwin Drood : "...Miss Twinkleton (in her amateur state of existence) has contributed herself and a veal pie to a picnic." ( Project Gutenberg Entry:cite web|url= http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/564 |title=The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens - Project Gutenberg |publisher=Gutenberg.net |date=1996-06-01 |accessdate=2011-07-01)
In Jane Austen 's novel Emma at the Box Hill, Surrey|Box Hill picnic which turned out to be a sore disappointment, Frank Churchill said to Emma: "Our companions are excessively stupid. What shall we do to rouse them? Any nonsense will serve..." ( Project Gutenberg Entry:cite web|url= http://gutenberg.net/etext/158 |title=Emma by Jane Austen - Project Gutenberg |publisher=Gutenberg.net |date=1994-08-01 |accessdate=2009-12-07)
In Fernando Arrabal 's Picnic in the Field the young and inexperienced soldier Zepo is visited unexpectedly by his devoted parents. Despite the war setting they have a cheerful picnic together.
The novel Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky , which was written in 1972, was the source for the film Stalker (film)|Stalker (1979) by Andrei Tarkovsky . The novel is about a mysterious "zone" filled with strange and often deadly extraterrestrial life in popular culture|extraterrestrial artifacts, which are theorized by some scientists to be the refuse from an alien "picnic" on Earth .
No Picnic on Mount Kenya by Felice Benuzzi recounts the attempt of three Italian prisoners of war during the Second World War to picnic on top of Mount Kenya.
In art
"Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe" (1865–1866), often referred to as "The Picnic" or "The Luncheon on the Grass" in English, was one the earliest works of Manet .
In film
The 1955 film Picnic (1955 film)|Picnic , based on the Pulitzer Prize -winning Picnic (play)|play by William Inge , was a multiple Academy Award|Oscar winner. The film has been remade twice, in 1986 and 2000.
With Picnic at Hanging Rock (film)|Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Peter Weir constructs a film of haunting mystery. Three girls and one of their teachers on a school outing mysteriously disappear. The only one that is later found remembers almost nothing. It is based on a 1967 drama and mystery novel of the same name by Australian author Joan Lindsay , .
Baji on the Beach , Gurinder Chada (1993). The German version of the film is titled Picknick on the Beach . Nine Indian women of various ages flee from their everyday life into a joint excursion to the English resort town of Blackpool . A rather unharmonious journey because conflicts between generations raise emotions to a fever pitch.
Blissfully Yours , a film with a picnic in a jungle.
Picnickers are used to illustrate the scale of one metre in the film Powers of Ten .
The Office Picnic (1973) is a dark comedy set in an Australian Public Service office. It was written and produced by film maker Tom Cowan , who is now famous for his work on the series Survivor(TV series)|Survivor .
In music
In 1906, the British composer John William Bratton wrote a musical piece originally titled "The Teddy Bear Two Step". It became popular in a 1908 instrumental version renamed " Teddy Bears' Picnic ", performed by the Arthur Pryor Band. The song regained prominence in 1932 when the Irish lyricist Jimmy Kennedy added words and it was recorded by the then popular Henry Hall (bandleader)|Henry Hall (and his BBC Dance Orchestra) featuring Val Rosing (Gilbert Russell) as lead singer|vocalist , which went on to sell a million copies. ''The Teddy Bears' Picnic resurfaced again in the late 1940s and early 1950s when it was used as the theme song for the Jon Arthur|Big Jon and Sparkie '' children's radio show. This perennial favorite has appeared on many children's recordings ever since, as well as being the theme song for the American Hockey League|AHL 's Hershey Bears hockey club. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/tweenies/songtime/songs/t/teddybearspicnic.shtml lyrics and audio from the BBC
"Stone Soul Picnic", by Laura Nyro (released in 1968) It was a major hit for the group The 5th Dimension . http://www.swingoutsister.com/albums/lyrics/shapes_and_patterns_lyrics.html cover version by Swing Out Sister
"Malcolm's X-Ray Picnic" was a moderate hit for the indie-pop group Number One Cup.
Roxette 's "June Afternoon" depicts images of people having fun and eating on a park during a warm June day.
Gallery
References
Reflist|2
Further reading
commons category|Picnics
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_picnics.shtml BBC Food Picnic Guide
http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/picnic.htm Urban Legends: Language (Picnic)
