chicken-slang?

[Russ McClay]

On Tue, 1 Nov 2005, Lois Nathan wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Lois Nathan <LBNath88545112 at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      chicken-slang?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Hi all,
>      Could somebody enlighten me on the use of "chicken" in the following
> stanza from Arlo Guthrie's 1960s song "Coming into Los Angeles", which contains
> drug slang elsewhere.?   I've missed this one.
>
>      Comin' in from London over the Pole
>      Flyin' in a big airliner
>      Chicken flyin' everywhere around the plane
>      Could we ever feel much finer
>
>      Comin' into Los Angeles
>      Bringinn' in a couple a keys
>      Don't touch my bags if you please
>      Mister customs man
>

According to a post on Arlos site, the reference is to chicken is about
airline food:

"I once asked Arlo what the heck he was talkin' about with the chicken.
He said it was the airline food.

I'll keep on posting this each time it comes up every year or so. Oh
bother."

http://www.arlo.net/resources/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3083&highlight=chicken

(Good call, Larry)

Russ