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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
a subscriber keeps pestering me with this question (well, she's asked three times now), about which I am clueless. originally she thought the word was "bobbycock", but she thinks she's got it now.
Can you tell me the meaning of "bumbly cock" as in the quote below,
A man is as proud as a " bumbly cock", who's half as proud as a piper.
Probably of Scots origin, because it was quoted to me by a friend who is of Scottish background and who plays the bagpipes.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Dunno if this is at all pertinent, but the Scots dialect (possibly confined to the Outer Hebrides) word for a turkey is "bubbly-jock."
See "The Hills is Lonely" by Lillian Beckwith.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
I'd say RC must be right. My Scots dictionary (thanks again, well-loved friend!) doesn't have bobbycock; the closest entry is bob, "a dance". It doesn't have bumbly, either. Interestingly, a bum-clock is "a humming beetle", but I don't think that's what the quote refers to, somehow. Bubbly is defined as "1 snotty, dirty with nasal mucus. 2 tearful, snivelling. 3 usually bubbly jock a turkey cock". (The italics were the dictionary's.)
Though 'proud as a peacock' is more common in my experience, I have also heard the expression 'proud as a turkey cock'. (The dictionary didn't have peacock.)
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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On a slight tangent : reading John B. Keane the Irish writer. In one story he tells about a local saying "it's a cock walk" in reference to something short. He explains that a cock-rooster stands tall and stiff and takes high short steps. Makes sense to me from roosters I have seen. Keane lived and worked in Listowell, on the south west coast of Ireland. he died a few years ago and was founder of Listowell Writers Conference. http://www.johnbkeane.com/
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Joined: Mar 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Found the following info' FWIW:
In the early 1800's, Natchez "Under the Hill" in Mississippi was a gathering place for the "Keel-boatman" bringing goods and supplies down the Mississippi River on their way to New Orleans. Each boat had its own "champion" fighter and when two boats met , it was the custom for these "Champions" to fight for the honored title of "Cock of the Walk" and "Best of the Best."
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