Well,
Since this is my first blog entry and I’m into language in a professional way, I thought I’d start off with a good old fashioned salutation from Newry, my home town. Mind you “Well!”, as a greeting, is usually spoken in a high-pitched squeal and elongated so that it rings in the ears of those being greeted for at least two minutes: “Weeeeeeellllll!” For you this is optional, but the greeting is normally accompanied by a bear hug and a squeeze.
I thought I’d write about interesting aspects of language, branding and marketing communications as I find them living here in beautiful Donegal on the North West coast of Ireland. But don’t panic….’ll try to make it vaguely interesting and throw in some schoolwork for the nerdy language types too.
Let me give you some perspective. As I write, I’m face-to-face with a creamy coloured (a technical term I’m sure) Charolais bull named Seamus. (Photo attached.) Yes, my office windowsill is in his living room and we’re petrified of each other. But you have to take your inspiration from somewhere.
On the window to my left, is the hen house. Five lovely chickens and one rooster with attitude fill that space. Don’t get me wrong, the eggs are great; it’s the five am wake-up call I have issue with.
So what sort of cock and bull story is this? According to the good old Oxford English Dictionary, it is “a ridiculous and implausible story”. Hmmm.
There are various theories as to the phrase’s origin:
- It’s from the village of Stony Stratford in England which was an important stopping-off point on a busy route in the coaching era of the 18th and 19th centuries. Apparently there were, and are, two ale houses – The Cock and The Bull – where travellers used to refresh themselves with incredulous yarns and banter.
- It’s linked to old tales of magical animals who could talk. The most common idol of the ancient Phoenicians, Persians and Indians was Nergal – a dunghill cock. Osirs, the bull, was a notorious Egyptian idol. So the phrase references the ancient myths and fables of Osirs and Nergal.
- It derrives from a ‘concocted and bully story’ which refers to pennies hawked on the street (cocks) and ‘bully’, from the Danish ‘bullen’ which means exaggerated.
So there you have it. See www.phrases.org.uk and www.websters-online-org for more.
Seamus
