iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Picnic

PICNIC is an acronym which stands for "Problem In Chair, Not In Computer", or "Person in Chair, Not In Computer".

It is most commonly used by experts to describe to one another that the problem was not in the computer but was instead caused by the user operating it.[1]

See also





Enlarge picture
Friends and family gather for a picnic in a public park in Columbus, Ohio, c. 1950
In contemporary usage, picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors, ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape. Picnics are often family-oriented but can also be an intimate occasion between two people, or a large get-together, company picnics and church picnics.

On romantic and family picnics a picnic basket and a blanket are usually brought along. Outdoor games or some other form of entertainment are common at large picnics.

Formerly, picnic meant a potluck, an entertainment at which each person contributed some dish to a common table for all to share.

Etymology

The first usage of the word was traced to a 17th century French text—the 1692 edition of Origines de la Langue Française de Ménage—which mentions 'pique-nique' as being of recent origin, 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. The word picnic is based on the verb piquer which means 'pick' or 'peck' with the rhyming nique meaning "thing of little importance".

The word picnic first appeared in English texts in the mid-1700s, and may have entered the English language from this French word or from the German Picknick.

In the late 1990s an e-mail hoax spread around the internet claiming that the word "picnic" was actually derived from racist term for a lynching. This claim had no basis in fact. See: Snopes.com urban legends reference page

Usage

Enlarge picture
A typical picnic setup on the ground with picnic basket and red plaid sheet.
  • 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 parks, a picnic area generally includes picnic tables and possibly other items related to eating outdoors, such as built-in grills, water faucets, garbage containers, and restrooms.

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 enfranchised citizens.
Enlarge picture
A Picnic infront of the Orangerie Kassel, Germany, c. 2003


Early in the 19th century, a fashionable group of Londoners formed the 'Picnic Society'. Members met in the 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.

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 Paneuropean Picnic held on both sides of the Hungarian / Austrian border on the 19 August 1989 as part of the struggle towards German reunification.

In the year 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 4th of July celebration of American independence is a popular day for a picnic. In Italy the favourite picnic day is 'Angel's Monday', also known as Pasquetta (= 'little easter'), the day after Easter.

Cultural representations of picnics

Perhaps the most famous depiction of a picnic is Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, painted by Edouard Manet in 1862.

In literature

In film

  • The film Picnic was a multiple Oscar winner from 1955.
  • With 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.
  • 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 away 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.

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 an 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 (and his BBC Dance Orchestra) featuring Val Rosing (Gilbert Russell) as lead vocalist, which went on to sell a million copies. Teddy Bear Picnic resurfaced again in the late 1940s and early 1950s when it was used as the theme song for the Big Jon and Sparkie children's radio show. This perennial favorite has appeared on many children's recordings ever since, as well as the theme song for the AHL's Hershey Bears hockey club. lyrics and audio from the BBC
  • "Stone Soul Picnic", by Laura Nyro (released in 1968) It was a major hit for the group Fifth Dimension. cover version by Swing Out Sister

External links

Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and IBM, that are formed using the initial letters of words or word parts in a phrase or name.
..... Click the link for more information.
PEBKAC is an acronym which stands for "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair".[1] The phrase is used by computer experts as a semi-humorous[2] way to describe user errors.
..... Click the link for more information.
ID-Ten-T Error (also seen as ID10+) is a term often used by tech support operators and computer experts to describe a problem that is due to the user's ignorance instead of a software or hardware malfunction.
..... Click the link for more information.
Layer 8 is commonly used to refer to the "user" or "political" layer. Since the final layer of the OSI 7 layer Model is the application layer, the user which uses the application is then the 8th layer.
..... Click the link for more information.
For the coarsely ground flour, see flour.


A meal is an instance of eating, specifically one that takes place at a specific time and includes specific, prepared food.
..... Click the link for more information.
landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including physical elements such as landforms, living elements of flora and fauna, abstract elements such as lighting and weather conditions, and human elements, for instance human activity or the built environment.
..... Click the link for more information.
A picnic basket is a basket or other container intended to hold food and tableware for a picnic meal. The term usually refers to the contents of the container as well as the container itself.
..... Click the link for more information.
game is a structured or semi-structured , usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes also used as an educational tool. (The term "game" is also used to describe simulation of various activities e.g., for the purposes of training, analysis or prediction, etc.
..... Click the link for more information.
Entertainment is an event, performance, or activity designed to give pleasure or relaxation to an audience (although, for example, in the case of a computer game the "audience" may be only one person).
..... Click the link for more information.
potluck is a gathering of people where each person is expected to bring a dish of food to be shared among the group.

Synonyms include: potluck dinner, Jacob's join[1][2], Jacob's supper, faith supper,
..... Click the link for more information.
recipes, see Semiconductor fabrication.


A recipe is a set of instructions that show how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish.
..... Click the link for more information.
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th Century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700 in the Gregorian calendar.

The 17th Century falls into the Early Modern period of Europe and was characterized by the Baroque cultural movement and the beginning of
..... Click the link for more information.
French (français, pronounced [fʁɑ̃ˈsɛ]) is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, and today by about 300 million people around the world as either
..... Click the link for more information.
8th century - 9th century - 10th century
850s  860s  870s  - 880s -  890s  900s  910s
885 886 887 - 888 - 889 890 891

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
..... Click the link for more information.
restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to order, to be consumed on the premises. The term covers a multiplicity of venues and a diversity of styles of cuisine.
..... Click the link for more information.
Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of grape juice.[1] The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients.
..... Click the link for more information.
Centuries: 16th century - 17th century - 18th century

1670s 1680s 1690s - 1700s - 1710s 1720s 1730s
1700 1701 1702 1703 1704
1705 1706 1707 1708 1709

- -
-

Events and trends


..... Click the link for more information.
English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
..... Click the link for more information.
German language (Deutsch, ] (help info ) ) is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.
..... Click the link for more information.
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1960s 1970s 1980s - 1990s - 2000s 2010s 2020s
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

- -
-
For the band, see .

..... Click the link for more information.
E-mail spoofing is a term used to describe fraudulent email activity in which the sender address and other parts of the email header are altered to appear as though the email originated from a different source.
..... Click the link for more information.
Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government
..... Click the link for more information.
rush hour (or peak hour, the formal term in traffic parlance) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is worst. Normally, the two rush hour periods while people are travelling to or from work or school.
..... Click the link for more information.
A picnic table (or sometimes a picnic bench) is a modified table with benches expressly for the purpose of eating a meal outdoors (picnicking). In the past, picnic tables were typically made of wood, but modern tables can be made out of anything from recycled plastic to
..... Click the link for more information.
grills, with most falling into one of two categories: gas-fueled and charcoal. There is a great debate over the merits of charcoal or gas for use as the cooking method between grillers. Electric indoor grills have also recently become popular.
..... Click the link for more information.
tap water requires a massive infrastructure of piping, pumps, and water purification works. The cost of tap water is a small fraction of that of bottled water, often as little as 0.01%.
..... Click the link for more information.
washroom is a room for washing one's hands (such as a lavatory), but the term also is used to denote a public toilet, comfort room, toilet room, bathroom, or restroom (see above).
..... Click the link for more information.
<noinclude></noinclude>

The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal
..... Click the link for more information.
Suffrage (from the Latin suffragium, meaning "vote") is the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. In that context, it is also called political franchise or simply the franchise.
..... Click the link for more information.
For the periodical, see .
The 19th Century (also written XIX century) lasted from 1801 through 1900 in the Gregorian calendar. It is often referred to as the "1800s.
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter