Gherkins

[Segilla]

My Mother in law used to call large pickled gherkins wally wallies.
Has anybody else come across this term as I can't find a ref to it anywhere.

[PS excelllent v large bottles, 99p Lidl]

[Alibobs]

I know them as wallies - found this

a British colloquial term for the gherkin. Originally it was London slang corruption of the word "Olive" but when Eastern European immigrants arrived in the late 19th Century they brought a liking for picked cucumbers which, like olives, were sold from wooden barrels and also began to be referred to as a wallies (mostly in the east-end of London

[BBWCHATT]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally

Wikipedia says:

Slang:

a British colloquial term for the gherkin. Originally it was London slang corruption of the word "Olive" but when Eastern European immigrants arrived in the late 19th Century they brought a liking for picked cucumbers which, like olives, were sold from wooden barrels and also began to be referred to as a wallies (mostly in the east-end of London).