Today's Forgotten English, and a Ramble About School
pig-cheer
The word is used in Yorkshire, and applied especially to dishes made from the viscera of the pig. Christmas was formerly, as now, the principal season for pig-cheer.--T. Lewis Davies's Supplemental English Glossary, 1881
Christmas Boar's-Head Custom
At Queen's College, Oxford, the Boar's-head feast is still celebrated with accustomed ceremonial. The mythical origin of the custom is the story of a student of the college who was attacked by a wild boar while he was diligently studying Aristotle during a walk near Shotover Hill, some five hundred years ago. His book was his only means of defence, so he thrust the volume down the animal's throat, exclaiming, "Græcum est!" [Latin: "It's Greek!" -TG] The boar found Greek very difficult to digest, and died on the spot, and the head was brought home in triumph by the student. Ever since that date, a boar's-head has graced the college table at Christmas.--P.H. Ditchfield's Old English Customs, 1896
Y'know, it's stuff like this that makes me ( Collapse )
