Akademik

(PIK.ayd or pi.KAYD)

n.

Picketing that purposefully prevents traffic from moving or from entering or leaving a specific location.

— pickade v.

— pickader n.

While the IFA is protesting — and not "pickading" any of the plants — farmers will not deliver animals across those protest lines. While some factories have their own supplies, these are estimated to be less than a fortnight's kill. With relations between the two sides deteriorating, "pickades" could well be the next step.

— Sean Macconnell, "IFA demands benefits from upturn in meat sector," The Irish Times, September 30. 2002

Irish Farmers Association president Tom Parlon has been returned in triumph as president of the Association, in the wake of the successful blockade of all Irish beef processing abattoirs...In a speech he warned that the IFA would now monitor beef processors to ensure they deliver on commitments given. Parlon added that similar action might be taken against pig processors to secure an increase in prices. The meeting was a celebration of what many see as one of the IFA's outstanding successes in negotiations. A new word has entered the farming vocabulary — pickades, to describe a successful mix of blockades and pickets.

— "Irish farmers celebrate abattoir victory," Agra Europe, February 11, 2000

In interviews with non-U.S. journalists, I'm often asked if there are any neologisms that originated from the interviewer's home country. This makes sense because any journalist worthy of the title will try to show his or her readers how a particular story connects with their lives. The next time someone from Ireland asks me this question, I'll be able to point them to pickade — a blend of picket (1867) and blockade (1680) — that was coined in Ireland a couple of years ago and appears so far to be an Irish-only phenomenon. However, the pickade tactic has been used throughout the world by irate truckers, trade unionists, and anti-globalization protesters, so it's just a matter of time before the word emigrates from the Emerald Isle.