Terminology: Why is a chouette called "chouette" (meaning "owl" in French)?
Roland Scheicher
called "chouette"?
Since there maybe others who are interested in this topic I want to
write down a few lines. A good point to start at is Webster's Third
New International Dictionary, which says:
>> chouette [French from "faire la chouette" = to play a lone hand at
cards, lit., to act like a barn owl], from "chouette" = barn owl,
[...] a method of scoring by which more than two persons can
participate in a two-handed game (as backgammon), one player [= the
man in the box] accepting the bets of all other players on the result
of a game between himself and one other active player [= the captain].
<<
However, this method of scoring does not only apply to Backgammon, it
is a quite general procedure, which may be adapted for several card
games like Gin-Rummy or Ecarté. In essence, Baccarat-Chemin de fer or
Craps (in its original social version) are two-handed games, where the
roles of the players change according to a chouette-like procedure.
Although Backgammon chouette seems to be its commonest form today, it
might have been derived from playing Piquet (an ancient card game) or
jeu de Paume. The Dictionnaire de L'Académie française, Cinquième
édition, 1798
http://encyclopedie.inalf.fr/cgi-bin/ACAD1798.pg.sh?POBJECT=255 says:
>> On dit au jeu de Piquet, Faire la chouette, pour dire, Jouer seul
contre deux ou contre plusieurs.<<
Now, what about the owls (= les chouettes) at Backgammon? On an
interesting web page
http://cyrille.deliry.free.fr/birds/kia.html
dealing with the etymology of French phrases, I found the following
lines:
>> Par contre si vous participez à une partie de jeu de Paume,
l'expression " faire la chouette ", vient bien de l'oiseau. Il s'agit
de jouer seul contre plusieurs adversaires, ainsi l'oiseau de nuit qui
égaré de jour se fait poursuivre par plusieurs autres oiseaux peu
amicaux à son égard.<<
However, I'm in doubt, whether the zoological statement were true (is
it?), but I think it is at least a plausible explanation of this
phrase. I'm looking forward to your comments on this.
Regards
Roland
Martin Short
back to 1930 that chouette got its name from that french owl because
that particular bird is often attacked by all the other birds.. much
like how the box is attacked by all of the remaining players in the
game.
martin
http://www.gammoned.com/home.html
roland_s...@yahoo.de (Roland Scheicher) wrote in message news:<aa4aac58.02031...@posting.google.com>...
Mark Denihan
eyes
"Martin Short" <flyg...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:a4b2ae64.02031...@posting.google.com...
Li Chou
Mark Denihan wrote:
> I would like to think it's derived from staying up all night with big round
> eyes
>
Yes, I stay up with round eyes all night
then chop chop their heads off at morning's light.
Then they not so big!
Li Chou
Killer Frost
In my experience, most people use one or the other term depending on the animal, but they usually use the same term. Perhaps it's a regional thing. I read it at (https://www.thenewsinsides.com)
Meadow Richard
> In my experience, most people use one or the other term depending on the animal, but they usually use the same term. Perhaps it's a regional thing. I read it at (https://www.thenewsinsides.com)
loyed neuer
> > The main visual difference (or at least the easiest to notice) is hiboux's ear tufts.
> > In my experience, most people use one or the other term depending on the animal, but they usually use the same term. Perhaps it's a regional thing. I read it at (https://www.thenewsinsides.com)
