Popular Saying That Originated From Chickens

[Nichole77]

For all of you R&B/rap lovers out there "Chickenhead", if you don't know what it means you probably don't want to.

 

[southernsibe]

My Grandmother would say this to me when I was younger and whistled, "A whistleing woman and cacklein' hen, ain't fit for garden or men"

I have no idea where she learned it, but it's stuck with me!
Rachel

 

[joebwe25]

I like that one!
Thanks for sharing!

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Over in the eastern panhandle of WV, we have lots of poultry farms and processing centers...they have what they call the "Chicken railroad" or trains...

 

[my3under4]

brooding!, as in the behavior of brooding over something
I was looking thru vocabulary for my kids to learn this summer while we are doing a farm unit, and I had the same realization: a lot of vernacular comes from the farmlands!

 

[chickiepoo]

I have noticed maybe three references to whistling women in these posts. Wonder why whistling women were thought so poorly of?

 

[ORChick]

I was just about to start a thread on this very subject, when what should I find....? Its been great fun reading all these sayings, and proverbs, and quotes.

Here are a couple that I have found:

"The turtle lays thousands of eggs without anyone knowing, but when the hen lays an egg, the whole country is informed."
- Malaysian Proverb

"If you were born lucky, even your rooster will lay eggs."
- Russian Proverb

A couple freely translated from German:

Even a blind hen sometimes finds a grain.

When the rooster crows on the dung heap
The weather will change, or.....
It will remain as it is.

From my trusty copy of Bartlett's Quotations:

A cock has great influence on his own dunghill.
- Publius Syrus

Curse away!
And let me tell thee, Beausant, a wise proverb
The Arabs have, - "Curses are like young chickens,
And still come home to roost."
- Edward B. Lytton - from "The Lady of Lyons"

 

[ORChick]

Quote:
I read the original of this just today, but I can't remember where. It was from back in Colonial times, or maybe (probably) even from England. Back then it was considered very improper and unladylike for a woman to whistle (almost as bad as - gasp! - wearing trousers!). The inference being, of course, that it was just as unnatural for a woman to whistle as for a hen to crow.

 

[Lothiriel]

How about "cooped up" and "ruler of the roost."

 

[carugoman]

let's try COCKSURE for dead-on correct uhhhh (my wifeypoo looking over my shoulder)...HEN PECKED (yes, dear.) Also, those chickenhawks that y'all mentioned before how about "playing chicken" as in being a coward?