The Pillory and Its Impact on Metaphorical Ways of Speaking

By Gerlinde Gangl, M.A., University of Bamberg

The pillory punishment is one of the degrading punishments of the Middle Ages and Modern Times (executed in Europe until 1848), whereby a delinquent person was publicly exposed. In addition to the pillory, the associated punishment rituals remained alive in cultural memory. This becomes discernible in the metaphors employed in everyday expressions of many European languages.