Why "drunk as a boiled owl"? (was: Boiled owl (1861);...)

[Gerald Cohen]

At 11:58 PM -0500 3/15/04, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>     Drunk as a boiled owl?
>     Why?  Why an owl?  Why a boiled owl?
>
>


  A partial answer is that the owl's glassy stare is likened to the
glassy stare of a drunk. That explains the owl.  Why boiled? I can
only guess that owls, as omens of death and disaster, were subjected
to cruelty, perhaps being boiled alive. Cf. the mistreatment of cats
in the Middle Ages (for supposedly being devils).

    If the wide-eyed look of a healthy owl is perceived as a glassy
stare, what must that look be as the owl is being boiled alive?

Gerald Cohen
P.S. I had never previously heard of "boiled" (drunk). I've heard
"stewed" and "pickled," although I've never understood their
rationale.



><http://www.hallowfreaks.com/text/superstitons2.html>http://www.hallowfreaks.com/text/superstitons2.html
>
>Owls - Lore tells that owls ate the souls of the dying by swooping
>to earth on Halloween. Owl screeches and their glassy stare are said
>to be an omen of death and disaster.




><http://www.wordwizard.com/clubhouse/founddiscuss.asp?Num=438>http://www.wordwizard.com/clubhouse/founddiscuss.asp?Num=438

The Wordwizard Clubhouse
Boiled as an owl

I have searched various sources including this site, but can't seem
to find anything relating to this. Help, anyone?

...

Response from Charles Becker (Murray KY - U.S.A.)


On the phrase "pickled as an owl," Word Detective (30 Sep 1998) says:

... but the choice of an owl may have been in reference to the
perceived similarity of an owl's wide gaze to a drunk's glassy stare.


>