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A cock (also called a rooster or chanticleer) is a male chicken (Gallus gallus), the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels. The oldest term is "cock", from Old English coc. But because "cock" is often used as a slang term referring to the penis, this term is generally avoided for the sake of both propriety and clarity, although it remains accurate. It is replaced by synonyms: "cockerel" (which properly refers to a young male chicken) in the United Kingdom, and "rooster" (a relative neologism) in North America and Australia. "Cocking" is the action of perching aloft to sleep at night, and is actually done by both sexes. The cock is polygamous, but cannot guard several nests of eggs at once. He guards the general area where his hens are nesting, and will attack other cocks who enter his territory. During the daytime, he often sits on a high perch, usually 4–5 feet off the ground, to serve as a lookout for his flock. He will sound a distinctive alarm call if predators are nearby. The cock is often (accurately) pictured in art as crowing at the break of dawn. He can often be seen sitting on fence posts or other objects, where he crows to proclaim his territory. However, when a cock might crow at any time of day, if he looks into the sun - even sometimes on a bright moonlit night. He has several other calls as well, and can cluck the same as a hen. Cocks will occasionally make a pattern following clucking sound to attract hens to a source of food.
Cocks generally tend to wail when they are distressed or in heat. The sound made by the them is often referred to as "cocking" and is spelled onomatopœically as "cock-a-doodle-do" in English, but otherwise in some other languages: Albanian kikirikiki, Arabic kookookoo-koo, Armenian ծու-ղրու-ղու (tsu-ghru-ghu), Bulgarian кукуригу (kukurigu), Catalan Co-co-ro-co, Chinese goh-geh-goh-goh, Croatian ku-ku-ri-ku Czech kykyrik?, Danish kykeliky, Dutch kukeleku, Esperanto kokeriko, Estonian kukeleegu or kikerikii, Faroese kakkul?rak?, Filipino Tik-ti-la-ok, Finnish kukkokiekuu, French cocorico, German kikeriki, Greek kikiriku, Gujarati kuk-de-kuk, Hebrew ku-ku-ri-ku, Hindustani kuk-roo-koon or kuk-roo-kroon, Hungarian kukurik?, Icelandic gaggalag?, Indonesian kukuruyuk, Italian chicchirich?, Japanese ko-ke kokkoh, Korean k'ok'iyo, Lithuanian ka-ka-rie-ku, Latvian ki-ke-ri-gū, Maltese ku-ku-ri-ku, Norwegian kykkeliky, Nepali ku-khuri-kan, Persian ququliqu, Polish kukuryku, Portuguese C? c? r? c?, Romanian cucurigu, Russian ку-ка-ре-ку (ku-ka-rye-ku), Sanskrit काक (kāka), Serbian ku-ku-ri-ku, Slovak kikirik?, Slovene kikiriki, Spanish quiquiriqu? (kikirik?), Swahili KokoRikoo koo, Swedish kuckeliku, Telugu ko-ka-ra-koo, Tamil ko-ka-ra-ko, Malayalam ko-ka-ra-ko-ko, Thai eh-ee-eh-eh, Turkish ??-?r?-
, Urdu kuk roo kroon, and Vietnamese ?-?-o-o.A small variety ....
Lesson 2 - Dick
Gender: Boy
Origin: English
Meaning: Strong power; hardy power
Origin: German, Dutch
Meaning: Stout, thickest
Pronunciation: (dik)
Form of: Richard , Diederik and Theodoric
Richard , Diederik and Theodoric were equally popular in the Middle Ages, and the abbreviations led naturally to diminutives--such as Rich, Richie, Rick, and Ricket. Rhyming nicknames were also fairly common in the 12th and 13th centuries, and so we also have Hitch from Rich, Hick and Dick from Rick, and Hicket from Ricket. Some of these later became surnames or parts of surnames. We note that while Dick endures as a nickname, "Hick" has thankfully become obsolete, except when tied to "Dick" in rhymes such as "Hickory, Dickory, Dock."
In the 13th and 14th centuries, "Hick" surfaced, however improbably, into "Hudde," from which derives surnames such as "Hudson." W. Bardsley's masterful work, Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (1901) cites a Latin manuscript that mentions "Ricardus dictus Hudde de Walkden."
Back at the ranch, Dick and Hick were among the earliest of the rhyming nicknames, first appearing in writing around 1220. Other rhyming nicknames include Polly from Molly, Bob from Rob (from Robert), Bill from Will (from William); and Hodge from Roger.
The name Dick (like the name Jack) was used colloquially to mean a man or everyman. The expression "every Tom, Dick, or Harry" attests to this as a long-established usage; Shakespeare uses "every Tom, Dick, or Francis" in Henry IV Part I.
From the usage of Dick to mean average person, other usages appeared. Many other usages. The Oxford English Dictionary cites a dick as meaning a type of hard cheese in 1847, which lead to the usage of "spotted dick" (to be dealt with in an upcoming Staff Report.) The term "dick" was also used to mean a riding whip, an apron, the mound around a ditch, and an abbreviation for "dictionary" around 1860.
Dick also meant a declaration, in which sense the OED cites someone writing in 1878 "I'd take my dying dick" to mean "I'd swear a dying declaration." The term "dick" came to mean policeman around 1908, and then detective.
Popular dicks:
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