concept
Since the days of King Gorokh (idiom)
King Gorokh
also: царь Горох, со времен царя Гороха, King Cole, King Pea
A Russian folk idiom, roughly 'since time immemorial,' invoking a legendary King Gorokh (literally 'King Pea') of no fixed historical period; used here by the justice of the peace to boast, half self-mockingly, of the length of his service.
Reading notes
- An Unpleasantness §109 since the days of King Cole
A Russian folk idiom (literally 'since the days of Tsar Gorokh,' King Pea) meaning roughly 'since time immemorial'; rendered here with the closest common English idiom of the same comic, folkloric register.
- To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 28 June 1888. Sumy. §6 King Pea
Renders the Russian folk idiom "царь Горох" ("Tsar Gorokh"), a byword for legendary antiquity comparable to "since time out of mind" -- not a reference to any actual historical figure.