A.Word.A.Day --cockalane

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Feb 19, 2026

This week’s theme
Words that sound dirty, but aren’t

This week’s words
invaginate
fucate
sexpartite
cockalane

Donkey and Chickens in the Barn, 1863

Art: Eugène Verboeckhoven

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

cockalane

PRONUNCIATION:

(KOK-uh-layn)

MEANING:

noun:
1. An incoherent or rambling story.
2. A satire or lampoon.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French coq-à-l’âne (satire, literally from cock to ass), from coq (cock) + à (at) + le (definite article) + âne (ass). Earliest documented use: 1596.

USAGE:

“Fletcher had had enough lucidity and audacity to mutter a cockalane.”
Bobbi Groover; Season of the Shadow; Ebookit; 2013.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book. -Carson McCullers, writer (19 Feb 1917-1967)

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