Ghyll:Pickers

"Pickers" is a name informally applied to Iganeftan soldiers since the Extraordinarily Bloodless Revolution. The term is derived from "apple-pickers," because of their distinctive badge of the Furious Apple, the symbol of the royal family of Iganefta, and their equally distinctive hammer-topped spears, resembling long picks.

It has been suggested, most notably by the mathematician Pricludious, that the term is actually misapplied, and in fact it was the opposing forces that were called "apple-pickers", as they were engaged in "picking off" the "apples," i.e. the Iganeftans bearing that device. This is yet another example (as if more were needed), that Pricludious, astute and penetrating though his insights in mathematics and philosophy may be, is not to be relied upon in matters of history. The well-documented contemporary pride that Lord Fredrick Paul Glosfordshier's forces felt in being called "apple-pickers" indicates this plainly enough. For example, this snippet of a folk-song from the army, recorded by the local mureannors, speaks of the apple-picker's confidence:

Apple-pickers, all

Heed the Big Apple's call

No matter what befall

(If we're even fighting at all)

All will bend knee

Before the Apple tree

Or with pick and snickersnee

We'll enforce Lord Fred's decree!

Note the referece to Lord Glosfordshier as the "Big Apple" and the "Apple Tree" (again, both references to the Furious Apple device), and of course "Lord Fred." The line "if we're even fighting at all," naturally, refers to the controversial nature of the Conflict That Is Not Happening.

Of course, the name of the Iganeftan Bindlet Ball team, The Pickers, is also a reflection of this regional pride.

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Citations: Pricludious, mureannor, Iganefta

--clsn 16:05, 28 Jan 2005 (EST)