"Cock" = rooster

[Wilson Gray]

Charlie, the derivation is from the "cock" that means "faucet," now
obsolescent, if not fully obsolete, except in a few words such as
"petcock" and "stopcock." The basis of my claim is this.

About a quarter-century ago, I was paging through a book on homosexual
symbolism in art. Among the examples provided by the author(s?) was an
engraving of a small group of naked men in a large, indoor, public
bath. They were gathered together at one end of the pool. The
perspective was such that, at first glance, it appeared that some of
the men had their hands on the  flaccid, dripping penes / penises of
the other men, who were hung like horses. However, at second glance,
it was clear that the men were merely standing around the cocks
(faucets) used to fill the pool and some of them just happened to be
resting their hands on the said cocks (faucets), whose shape
coincidently and conveniently happened to be like unto that of a
flaccid penis.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

-Wilson

On 7/4/06, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Cock" = rooster
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Not to flog a dead dolphin here, but let me reiterate:
>
> The question was not whether a male chicken
> SYMBOLIZES "sexuality" (in many instances, literary,
> subliterary, and iconographic, it obviously has). Rather it
> was whether 'penis' was a denotative meaing of the
> WORD "cock" at certain points in history--a very different
> (though obviously not unrelated) matter.
>
> --Charlie
> _______________________________________
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2006 20:05:16 -0400
> >From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >Subject: "Cock" = rooster
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header ----
> -------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-
> L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >Subject:      "Cock" = rooster
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------
> >
> >Alison writes:
> >
> >On the Cock thread, no-one who has ever kept chickens could
> be in any doubt about the appropriateness of considering a
> cock to be a symbol of sexuality.  Roosters whole existence
> seems to be wholly given over to strutting, bragging and
> chasing hens.]
> >
> >Not to mention abusing them. When a rooster is through with
> a hen, he will strike her with his spurs, if she doesn't get
> out of his way quickly enough.
> >
> >-Wilson
>
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