connotation of "Cuckoo"
maia schwarz
I would like to know all the connotations possible for the word
"cuckoo" and with specific examples in english language, like
idiomatic expressions and sort.
Please let it be just connotations and not dictionary definitions.
I have to do a sort of essay and need this information or a place
where i can find it. I already looked up in google but i didnt find
it.
thanks and regards,
maia
Richard Fontana
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "connotations and not dictionary
definitions". Off the top of my head I can think of two common usages of
"cuckoo". One is a reference to a type of bird which reputedly makes a
sound that resembles "cuckoo!". The other is a slang usage, very much
established and perhaps even now a bit old-fashioned-sounding, meaning
"crazy".
Donna Richoux
You might find a discussion if you try searching on combinations of
words, like
cuckoo symbol literature
But even more, you can simply follow up some of the hits that Google did
give you, and see for yourself how it is used. Use Google to collect
samples. Your teacher would be impressed if you could show that in 39
out of the first 50 Google hits (I'm just making this up), the word was
used to mean crazy.
One last suggestion is to check Britannica.com. The cuckoo has been a
literary symbol for a thousand years or more, I imagine they would
discuss it there.
The Bonny Cuckoo is a pretty English country dance, to an O'Carolan
tune.
--
Best wishes --- Donna Richoux
John Seeliger
<1eykcgb.1nps6vtk53eyiN%tr...@euronet.nl>...
Welcome back Donna.
Joona I Palaste
> I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "connotations and not dictionary
> definitions". Off the top of my head I can think of two common usages of
> "cuckoo". One is a reference to a type of bird which reputedly makes a
> sound that resembles "cuckoo!". The other is a slang usage, very much
> established and perhaps even now a bit old-fashioned-sounding, meaning
> "crazy".
That's a funny way to name an animal. We don't call cows moos, pigs
oinks, or turkeys clucks, so why do we call cuckoos cuckoos?
--
/-- Joona Palaste (pal...@cc.helsinki.fi) ---------------------------\
| Kingpriest of "The Flying Lemon Tree" G++ FR FW+ M- #108 D+ ADA N+++|
| http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste W++ B OP+ |
\----------------------------------------- Finland rules! ------------/
"I am looking for myself. Have you seen me somewhere?"
- Anon
Richard Fontana
> Richard Fontana <rf...@sparky.cs.nyu.edu> scribbled the following:
> > I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "connotations and not dictionary
> > definitions". Off the top of my head I can think of two common usages of
> > "cuckoo". One is a reference to a type of bird which reputedly makes a
> > sound that resembles "cuckoo!". The other is a slang usage, very much
> > established and perhaps even now a bit old-fashioned-sounding, meaning
> > "crazy".
>
> That's a funny way to name an animal. We don't call cows moos, pigs
> oinks, or turkeys clucks, so why do we call cuckoos cuckoos?
Quite a few birds seem to have onomatopoeic names.
Tom Deveson
> would like to know all the connotations possible for the word
>"cuckoo" and with specific examples in english language, like
>idiomatic expressions and sort.
>Please let it be just connotations and not dictionary definitions.
Richard F and Donna R (hello again, Donna) have given a couple of
examples.
Here are a couple more. I hope they are the kind of thing you want.
Because of the way cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds' nests, people
sometimes talk of a 'cuckoo in the nest'. This means someone who takes
over an enterprise that has been started and developed by others.
Shakespeare uses the word in a way similar to that Richard described.
His character Falstaff calls Prince Hal 'ye cuckoo', meaning someone
silly who echoes what other people say. But the word also sounds like
'cuckold', meaning a man whose wife has sex with another man during
their marriage. So in a song, Shakespeare calls 'cuckoo' a 'word of
fear, unpleasing to a married ear.'
Hope this helps,
Tom
--
Tom Deveson
Joe Fineman
> On 22 Aug 2001, maia schwarz wrote:
>
> > I would like to know all the connotations possible for the word
> > "cuckoo" and with specific examples in english language, like
> > idiomatic expressions and sort. Please let it be just
> > connotations and not dictionary definitions.
>
> I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "connotations and not
> dictionary definitions". Off the top of my head I can think of two
> common usages of "cuckoo". One is a reference to a type of bird
> which reputedly makes a sound that resembles "cuckoo!". The other
> is a slang usage, very much established and perhaps even now a bit
> old-fashioned-sounding, meaning "crazy".
In older English, because of its habit of laying eggs in other birds'
nests, the cuckoo was a symbol of adultery. Shakespeare alludes to it
in his spring poem attached to _Love's Labour's Lost_, and in many
other places. The word "cuckold", meaning a man whose wife is
unfaithful to him, is related.
These days, many people will also be reminded of cuckoo clocks, in
which a mechanical bird gives the hour by repeating "cuckoo". I
believe they were first made in Switzerland.
--
--- Joe Fineman j...@TheWorld.com
||: The difference between religion and science is that in :||
||: science there are mistakes. :||
Richard Fontana
> > On 22 Aug 2001, maia schwarz wrote:
> >
> > > I would like to know all the connotations possible for the word
> > > "cuckoo" and with specific examples in english language, like
> > > idiomatic expressions and sort. Please let it be just
> > > connotations and not dictionary definitions.
[...]
> In older English, because of its habit of laying eggs in other birds'
> nests, the cuckoo was a symbol of adultery. Shakespeare alludes to it
> in his spring poem attached to _Love's Labour's Lost_, and in many
> other places. The word "cuckold", meaning a man whose wife is
> unfaithful to him, is related.
>
> These days, many people will also be reminded of cuckoo clocks, in
> which a mechanical bird gives the hour by repeating "cuckoo". I
> believe they were first made in Switzerland.
Also, there's the famous phrase "I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs", uttered by
an animated bird who is, possibly, supposed to be a cuckoo.
Google:
cuckoo cocoa puffs 641
cuckoo coco puffs 110
cookoo cocoa puffs 42
"koo koo" cocoa puffs 44
"koo koo" coco puffs 23
cukoo cocoa puffs 16
cukoo coco puffs 5
cookoo coco puffs 11
cuku cocoa puffs 1
N.Mitchum
----
> Off the top of my head I can think of two common usages of
> "cuckoo". One is a reference to a type of bird which reputedly makes a
> sound that resembles "cuckoo!". The other is a slang usage, very much
> established and perhaps even now a bit old-fashioned-sounding, meaning
> "crazy".
Also, cuckoos are said to lay their eggs in other birds' nests and
leave them to be hatched and raised by strangers. Such behavior
is sometimes attributed to humans. Female cuckoos change mates
often. Either fact may be the source of "cuckold."
----NM
N.Mitchum
----
> That's a funny way to name an animal. We don't call cows moos, pigs
> oinks, or turkeys clucks, so why do we call cuckoos cuckoos?
We do however call turkeys "gobblers" since the sound they make is
called "gobbling." We have the joke name "Cluck in a Bucket" for
fried chicken (clucking is what chickens do). The Hawaiians have
named one of their geese "nene" (pronounced nay-nay), and I'd be
willing to be the name mimics the sound it makes. Hogs are
sometimes called "grunters."
So why not "cuckoo"?
----NM
Donna Richoux
I wonder if the cuckoo-clock use gave rise to the crazy meaning. (Such
as, that clock is driving me crazy! Or, only a crazy person would make
such a noise.)
Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang gives as the first
noun use (a fool) as British, 1889, and adjective (crazy), US 1906.
There are many citations dated 1919 which suggests to me wartime
crossover influence.
Somewhere I've got a book on the history of clocks which would say when
the clocks with the cuckoo whistles became popular. Or someone else here
might know, any antique clock enthusiasts?
I still have never heard a real-life cuckoo. I imagine most of my fellow
Americans would say the same.
As for the person wondering why birds have onomatopoeic names, have you
ever tried seriously to identify birds? The damn things keep hopping
about and hiding themselves in the leaves, so a repeated distinctive cry
is often your best clue.
Besides which, don't judge the onomaticity (?) by a single language.
Maybe "cow" doesn't sound much like the cow noise to you, but the
related Dutch "koe" (ku) is closer.
(By the way, there is a good URL on animal noises and names in various
languages, so we're not obliged to rehash them all here. I'm sure the
link is at the aue website.)
When I was in Boston, the crows kept laughing at my jokes. "Caw-caw!
Haw-caw-caw!" An easy audience.
--
Best --- Donna Richoux
Tom Deveson
>I still have never heard a real-life cuckoo. I imagine most of my fellow
>Americans would say the same.
Best place I've ever heard a cuckoo: in Assynt in NW Scotland, between
Conival and Loch Glencoul, a very wild and lonely place.
It was like Housman's cuckoo that 'shouts all day at nothing' --
haunting and distant, the only sound apart from the wind in the heather.
Tom
--
Tom Deveson
Richard Fontana
On Thu, 23 Aug 2001, Donna Richoux wrote:
> When I was in Boston, the crows kept laughing at my jokes. "Caw-caw!
> Haw-caw-caw!" An easy audience.
Welcome back, Donna. In your absence many matters were settled, such as
the precise definition of "sandwich".
Now, even though you and most native Bostonians are CIC, and even
though some non-Bostonian CICs seem to realize "aw" with a rather
centralized low vowel, I can assure you that for us CINCs the
"crow sound" involves the "caught" vowel.
Or do crows have at least two distinct calls, "kah" and "kaw", which in
some parts of North America are pronounced (by the crows) identically?
[I *tried* to warn you ...]
Joe Manfre
> Also, there's the famous phrase "I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs",
> uttered by an animated bird who is, possibly, supposed to be a
> cuckoo.
>
> Google:
> cuckoo cocoa puffs 641
> cuckoo coco puffs 110
> cookoo cocoa puffs 42
> "koo koo" cocoa puffs 44
> "koo koo" coco puffs 23
> cukoo cocoa puffs 16
> cukoo coco puffs 5
> cookoo coco puffs 11
> cuku cocoa puffs 1
You forgot "coo coo". When I was little I had this comic book that
contained an advertisement (in comic-strip form) for Cocoa Puffs in
which the bird said "COO-COO".
For some reason, people who don't know how to spell "cuckoo" but
attempt to quote the Cocoa Puffs slogan anyway have always gotten on
my nerves, even though there is precedent in the advertiser's own
works. The fact that this irritates me is a source of constant
embarrassment to me.
I will accept of course "cuccu".
Anyway:
"coo coo" cocoa puffs 332
"coo coo" coco puffs 66
cuccu cocoa puffs 0
cuccu coco puffs 0
JM
--
Joe Manfre, Hyattsville, Maryland.
N.Mitchum
----
> I still have never heard a real-life cuckoo. I imagine most of my fellow
> Americans would say the same.
It's a European bird, I believe. So it's pretty unlikely an
American would hear one, except while abroad. Supposedly the US
does have its own cuckoos, but I read that these are actually
roadrunners, which, as everyone knows, make a "beep-beep" sound,
not a "cuckoo."
----NM
Richard Fontana
> Richard Fontana (rf...@sparky.cs.nyu.edu) wrote:
>
> > Also, there's the famous phrase "I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs",
> > uttered by an animated bird who is, possibly, supposed to be a
> > cuckoo.
> >
> > Google:
> > cuckoo cocoa puffs 641
> > cuckoo coco puffs 110
> > cookoo cocoa puffs 42
> > "koo koo" cocoa puffs 44
> > "koo koo" coco puffs 23
> > cukoo cocoa puffs 16
> > cukoo coco puffs 5
> > cookoo coco puffs 11
> > cuku cocoa puffs 1
>
>
> You forgot "coo coo". When I was little I had this comic book that
> contained an advertisement (in comic-strip form) for Cocoa Puffs in
> which the bird said "COO-COO".
>
> For some reason, people who don't know how to spell "cuckoo" but
> attempt to quote the Cocoa Puffs slogan anyway have always gotten on
> my nerves, even though there is precedent in the advertiser's own
> works. The fact that this irritates me is a source of constant
> embarrassment to me.
Now that you mention it, I seem to remember them using "coo coo" on the
cereal box (or maybe in some other print advertising). I can't really be
sure. It's quite possible I was bothered by it for the same reason you
were. I was into Cocoa Puffs when I was in kindergarten, which is around
the time I began to learn to read, but by the time I got to first grade,
by which time my reading ability had greatly improved, I think I had moved
on to other types of sugary cereals. I also ate Trix and Fruit Loops when
I was of kindergarten age, but I remember liking Cocoa Puffs more. As I
recall they had some good inserts too. The malicious Trix commercials
were incredibly disturbing to me, though; I'm glad I stopped eating that
product at an early age.
> I will accept of course "cuccu".
>
> Anyway:
>
> "coo coo" cocoa puffs 332
> "coo coo" coco puffs 66
> cuccu cocoa puffs 0
> cuccu coco puffs 0
Thanks.
R H Draney
>Richard Fontana (rf...@sparky.cs.nyu.edu) wrote:
>
>> Also, there's the famous phrase "I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs",
>> uttered by an animated bird who is, possibly, supposed to be a
>> cuckoo.
>>
>> Google:
>> cuckoo cocoa puffs 641
>> cuckoo coco puffs 110
>> cookoo cocoa puffs 42
>> "koo koo" cocoa puffs 44
>> "koo koo" coco puffs 23
>> cukoo cocoa puffs 16
>> cukoo coco puffs 5
>> cookoo coco puffs 11
>> cuku cocoa puffs 1
>
>
>You forgot "coo coo". When I was little I had this comic book that
>contained an advertisement (in comic-strip form) for Cocoa Puffs in
>which the bird said "COO-COO".
And "Koo Koo", the title of a Deborah Harry album...not to be confused with
the Fleisher studio's clown Koko....
>For some reason, people who don't know how to spell "cuckoo" but
>attempt to quote the Cocoa Puffs slogan anyway have always gotten on
>my nerves, even though there is precedent in the advertiser's own
>works. The fact that this irritates me is a source of constant
>embarrassment to me.
>
>I will accept of course "cuccu".
Sing it lhude, I'm cuccu and prhude...r
--
What good is being an executive if you never get to execute anyone?
Bob Cunningham
said that Richard Fontana <rf...@sparky.cs.nyu.edu> wrote:
[...]
>> I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "connotations and not dictionary
>> definitions". Off the top of my head I can think of two common usages of
>> "cuckoo". One is a reference to a type of bird which reputedly makes a
>> sound that resembles "cuckoo!". The other is a slang usage, very much
>> established and perhaps even now a bit old-fashioned-sounding, meaning
>> "crazy".
I wonder if the association of "cuckoo" with an adulteree is still as
well-known as it used to be. I'm surprised to see no mention of it in
two large dictionaries, although the etymology of "cuckold" shows a
connection with "cuckoo".
There are some remarks about the history of "cuckoo" as related to
adultery at
http://www.bartleby.com/81/4445.html
. Among other things, they quote from "Love's Labour's Lost":
The cuckoo, then, on every three,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he, Cuckoo!
Cuckoo ! cuckoo ! O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear !
Aaron Davies
I first picked it up reading Moliere in my French class in high school.
One of the plays deals with an old man who takes a young wife and is
terribly paranoid about her faithfulness. References to the "cuckoo's
horns" (an odd metaphor if there ever was one) are legion.
--
__ __
/ ) / )
/--/ __. __ ______ / / __. , __o _ _
/ (_(_/|_/ (_(_) / <_ /__/_(_/|_\/ <__</_/_)_
Henry Churchyard
Aaron Davies <aa...@avalon.pascal-central.com> wrote:
>Bob Cunningham <exw...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>> I wonder if the association of "cuckoo" with an adulteree is still
>> as well-known as it used to be. I'm surprised to see no mention of
>> it in two large dictionaries, although the etymology of "cuckold"
>> shows a connection with "cuckoo". There are some remarks about the
>> history of "cuckoo" as related to adultery at
>> http://www.bartleby.com/81/4445.html . Among other things, they
>> quote from "Love's Labour's Lost":
>> The cuckoo, then, on every three,
>> Mocks married men; for thus sings he, Cuckoo!
>> Cuckoo ! cuckoo ! O word of fear,
>> Unpleasing to a married ear !
> I first picked it up reading Moliere in my French class in high
> school. One of the plays deals with an old man who takes a young
> wife and is terribly paranoid about her faithfulness. References to
> the "cuckoo's horns" (an odd metaphor if there ever was one) are
> legion.
Here's a kind of elaborate satircal parody in which it becomes a
chivalric order with its own "fęte" (saint's-day celebration banquet):
http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/ordcukld.html
--
Henry Churchyard chu...@crossmyt.com http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/
jan sand
<a...@devesons.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>Because of the way cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds' nests, people
>sometimes talk of a 'cuckoo in the nest'. This means someone who takes
>over an enterprise that has been started and developed by others.
>
>Shakespeare uses the word in a way similar to that Richard described.
>His character Falstaff calls Prince Hal 'ye cuckoo', meaning someone
>silly who echoes what other people say. But the word also sounds like
>'cuckold', meaning a man whose wife has sex with another man during
>their marriage. So in a song, Shakespeare calls 'cuckoo' a 'word of
>fear, unpleasing to a married ear.'
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>Tom
>--
>Tom Deveson
Perhaps the habit of letting other birds raise their young is better
known in Europe than the USA. A science fiction novel titled "The
Midwitch Cuckoos" (made into a film, I believe) told about an alien
landing in Britain wherein women were impregnated by
extra-terrestrials and resulted in spooky super children that could
take mental control of normal humans.
Jan Sand
Matthew M. Huntbach
> Richard Fontana wrote:
> > Off the top of my head I can think of two common usages of
> > "cuckoo". One is a reference to a type of bird which reputedly makes a
> > sound that resembles "cuckoo!". The other is a slang usage, very much
> > established and perhaps even now a bit old-fashioned-sounding, meaning
> > "crazy".
> Also, cuckoos are said to lay their eggs in other birds' nests and
> leave them to be hatched and raised by strangers.
Not just "said to". They actually do - this is their normal means
of reproduction.
> Such behavior
> is sometimes attributed to humans. Female cuckoos change mates
> often. Either fact may be the source of "cuckold."
It is - the word "cuckold" derives from "cuckoo".
Matthew Huntbach
N.Mitchum
----
> > Also, cuckoos are said to lay their eggs in other birds' nests and
> > leave them to be hatched and raised by strangers.
>
> Not just "said to". They actually do - this is their normal means
> of reproduction.
As an American I'd have no firsthand knowledge of their habits and
can only report what they are "said" to do. To us, cuckoos are
scarcely more than legendary beasts.
----
> > Such behavior
> > is sometimes attributed to humans. Female cuckoos change mates
> > often. Either fact may be the source of "cuckold."
>
> It is - the word "cuckold" derives from "cuckoo".
>....
Right. What was in question was whether "cuckold" referred to
their nesting practices or to the females' promiscuity.
----NM
Joe Fineman
> References to the "cuckoo's horns" (an odd metaphor if there ever
> was one) are legion.
Actually, it was the cuckold that had the horns. There was a folk
tradition that if your wife was unfaithful, you grew a pair of horns
visible to everyone but yourself. That was very useful for sniggering
allusions, of which there are quite a few in Shakespeare. But it
wasn't just an English tradition; for the song "Chili Verde"
(20th-century Mexican?) devotes a stanza to it.
--
--- Joe Fineman j...@TheWorld.com
||: One picture is worth a thousand words, and takes as much :||
||: disk space as a million. :||
Niko Schwarz
[cuckoos]
i found this idiom:
Idiom: cloud-cuckoo land
Sample: That idea about flying cars is straight out of cloud-cuckoo
land
and i found these combinations:
a cuckoo clock:
a popular type of a clock where everytime when an hour has passed a
cuckoo comes out of it, shouting the intellectual depths of the words
"cuckoo! cuckoo!"
a cuckoo pint:
a weird type of bar, in german a "gefleckter Aronstab", but to be
honest, i dont even know in german what that might be good for.
cuckoo spit:
the spit of the cuckoo, which is also the 'cicade' (is that the word?)
of an insect. (Schaumzikade)
im gonna end it here before i go cuckoo...
best regards by your best friend...
nick =)
amaca...@gmail.com
harriso...@gmail.com
> The cuckoo is extinct.
That thread was extinct until you brought it back to life, 18 years on.
