the cock [was: More surprising censorship]

[Joel S. Berson]

At 8/11/2007 11:14 AM, Dennis Preston wrote:
>Interesting that "cock" (the male bird) gets no raised eyebrows in
>combined forms - 'peacock' (now used for male and female instead of
>the older 'peafowl'), 'woodcock,' 'gamecock,' etc..., but 'cock'
>alone for 'rooster' is long gone.

Is it?  "Cock of the walk."  "The cock crows at {sunrise, midnight, ...}

Perhaps "cock" for "rooster" is long gone because we have the very
concise "hen".  Females of other fowl have longer names, or perhaps
we would even have to invent some, to avoid the bland "woodfowl" or
"woodhen" formations.

Joel

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