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the crows of the slopes
Very apt, Bridget - especially as on the rare occasions they're moving around they do so in little hops.
I just looked up the relevant adjective, thinking it was 'craven' for some reason (probably as there's a black bird in that word!)
But of course it's corvine.
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Pooh-Bah
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about the derivations of 'chook' and 'hoon'!
"chook" is common in many parts of UK as a diminutive for "chicken" - usually used as a term of endearment to another human, rather than to poultry. From other threads, I gather it has the meaning of poultry in many other English-speaking places.
"hoon" - leaves me totally bewildered - but someone willenlighten us, that is for certain!
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I'm obliged to ask about the derivations of 'chook' and 'hoon'!
Fishman,
As Rhu has explained chooks are chickens. In casual conversation in Australia, the word 'chooks' is a very common substitute for the 'proper' word. We have six chooks in our backyard and within our family we never refer to them as chickens. Some people apparently see similarities between the XC skier's stride and the gait of a chicken, hence the term "chook-walker".
Now for hoon. I wondered about the word as I typed it, and now find to my surprise that it only registers one hit in One-Look Dictionary search (actually two, but I wasn't referring to gold Pagoda coins). It's apparently Aussie slang. The meaning for it in the link from One-Look was "Loudmouth, to drive recklessly". Now that I think about it, it's used as a noun and as a verb. The usage I was first aware of is in referring to young men in "hot" cars with not much to do on a Friday/Saturday night, burning rubber and abusing passersby. They are hoons, and they're "hooning around". I obviously made the mental leap from their behaviour on the roads to that of snowboarders on the slopes. I have no idea about the etymology of the word - can anyone help?
Now please let me qualify - if not retract - my tongue-in-cheek remarks about other alpine recreationalists. I haven't really got it in for 'boarders. I have had several fun days snowboarding, and hope to have more. I think it's great that snowboarding has opened up the slopes to the younger generation who have grown up on skateboards. I have also been guilty of yo-yo skiing, and my daughters love it. But when I go to the mountains I'd still rather "get away from it all" than find I'm still surrounded by it all.
Cheers,
Chookman.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Are 'chook' and 'hoon' pronounced alike? Or does 'chook' sound more like 'book'?
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Are 'chook' and 'hoon' pronounced alike? Or does 'chook' sound more like 'book'?
Anna,
chook - short oo as in book
hoon - long oo as in boon
chook
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Chook is pronounced like book and hook, while hoon rhymes with loon. I'm not sure where hoon comes from, but it's an everyday word here, used to refer to (mostly) young hooligans. The thought occurred to me that it is possibly a contraction of hooligan. Just don't take my word for it!
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Chook, I should really have guessed that chooks are chickens. I can also see how a XC skier may appear chook-like. You even have the arm/ski-pole movement which makes for the stubby wings. Cute! "Hoon" is a useful word. To me it somehow implies the leery noises that such folk are inclined to make, as well as the tooting of horns and the slow cruising of cars (preamble to the rubber-burning). Max's "hooligan" connection is probably apt, though also, of course that with "loons". In fact, I just checked out "loon" on Merriam-Webster online, and it came up with:
1 : LOUT, IDLER
2 chiefly Scottish: BOY
3 a : a crazy person b : SIMPLETON
These all relate to hoons quite well, don'tcha think? Now, I should really have a bit more of an affinity with 'boarders than yo-yo skiers, being a reasonably keen windsurfer. But I haven't. Suppose, along with skateboarding, it gives my kids an easy means of expressing their independence when they're a bit older. Aren't I kind?  Fish
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Carpal Tunnel
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Funny that your Merriam-Webster did not also state that loon is a aquatic bird. Hmmm.
F.Y.I. in Canada we call our dollar a loony because when it first came out in coin format (instead of paper) there was a loon on the tail side. The name has stuck since. The two dollar coin is called a twony (too-ny) just because the mind works in mysterious ways...
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Carpal Tunnel
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the mind works in mysterious ways......his one dollars to perform? 
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Chook is pronounced like book
There are parts of the UK where the normal pronunciation of book is not the short book that rhymes with hook, but is rather the long booook. There will be voices out there better qualified than mine to elucidate...
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