ADS-L on Language Log/cock

[Laurence Urdang]

What about compounds like cock-a-hoop, cockamamie, peacock, petcock, cockles (of one's heart), cockaleekie, etc., and, of course, poppycock, the etymology of which is revealing to some?
  Some years ago, dickhead (with gestures) went uncensored on British TV during regular viewing hours, but, as it isn't a popular epithet in AmerEng, went unnoticed here.
  A local radio station in Middlesex county, CT, has the call letters WMRD, which suggests French merde (and which isn't far from a description of the quality of most of its content).
  L. Urdang

"Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Arnold M. Zwicky"
Subject: ADS-L on Language Log
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... passing on the "cock" report from the Daily Telegraph:

AZ, 6/4/07: Annals of automated avoidance:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004570.html

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