What is Pickering's job?

As his
title suggests, Colonel Pickering was once a soldier. Though now retired from the British Army,
he still retains his old military title, as is customary. Since his days of soldiering came to
an end, Pickering has carved out a successful career as an academic. He is an expert in
linguistics whose main specialty is the study of Indian dialects.

Professor
Higgins meets Colonel Pickering one night in Covent Garden while the latter is taking notes and
guessing where people come from on the basis of their accents. Most of the common folk who
gather in this part of town to sell their wareslike Eliza Dolittleare deeply suspicious of this
strange man. They assume that he's a "copper's nark"a police informant. At the very
least, he's a busybody poking his nose into other people's business.

Higgins,
however, is intrigued by Pickering and goes over to introduce himself. Both men are delighted to
make each other's acquaintance. Like Pickering, Higgins is an expert in linguistics, and the two
men have admired each other's work for many years. Pickering's work in the study of dialects
makes him particularly intrigued by Higgins's bold experiment of passing off a humble Cockney
flower-seller as a lady of quality.