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Lost in Translation One Hundred and One

April 10, 2014
13:45 PM

This morning as I was pruning the vine which shades our terrace I was serenaded by a cockrel who was obviously trying to impose, verbally, some order in his hen run, he didn’t stop.Of course being a Coq, and a native French speaker his chant was”Cocorico” rather than the English “Cock-a-doodle-doo” , I listened carefully and he gave me plenty of opportunities to, but there is no doubt that he spoke his clarion call in French.There was not the slightest trace of a Doodle-doo in his crow.

This leads me to a book I bought lately called “Tingo” written by a man who rejoices in the name; Adam Jacot de Boinod. This is a compendium of the various names we give stuff from around the world. He has a special section on what the cock says in different countries. Here are some more:

Chinese: Gou gou
Italian : Chicchirichi
Portuguese; Cocoroco

But the people from Thailand obviously have a cock with an independent turn of phrase, he goes : Ake-e-ake-ake.

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