birding-aus

Slang/jargon use of Chook

To: Tony Russell <>, Sean Dooley <>, 'James Lambert' <>, Birding Aus <>
Subject: Slang/jargon use of Chook
From: Denise Goodfellow <>
Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:42:28 +0930

on 1/2/09 10:27 AM, Tony Russell at  wrote:

> Doesn't chook also refer to one's female friend ?  A term of endearment.

That's right.  I've a group of women friends that refer to themselves as
"chookies".  

> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
>  On Behalf Of Sean Dooley
> Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2009 9:43 AM
> To: 'James Lambert'; 
> Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] Slang/jargon use of Chook
> 
> 
> G'day James, 
> 
> I first heard the word chook used in relation to common birds very early
> on in my birding life, (early 1980s). I think Peter Lansley was the
> first person I heard use it, and it was well entrenched in the vocab of
> the Brisbane twitching scene in the mid-eighties when I visited there.
> 
> In fact, I seem to remember, Glen Ingram, who was part of that scene,
> wrote a light-hearted article about twitching that I think may have
> actually mentioned the word chook. This would have been in one of the
> natural history glossy mags of the time (around 1983?)- Australian
> Natural History or something similar. Glen has been a previous
> contributor to Birding-aus so if he is still on the list he may be able
> to enlighten you further.
> 
> Sean Dooley
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
>  On Behalf Of James Lambert
> Sent: Friday, 30 January 2009 7:47 PM
> To: 
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Slang/jargon use of Chook
> 
> 
> Dear all
> 
> I first came across the word "chook" used to describe "an abundant bird
> that birders get sick of seeing", when reading Sean Dooley's "The Big
> Twitch" (one of my favourite books).
> 
> As a lexicographer I was interested in the term. Sean Dooley's book was
> published in 2005. I checked the Birding-Aus archives and the earliest
> example I could find was 1998.
>  
> So I have two questions:
>  
> 1. When did this term first start being used? (I'm looking for anecdotal
> evidence here)
>  
> 2. Does anyone have a source earlier than 1998 which uses the word
> "chook" in this way? (I'm looking for printed evidence here)
> 
>  
> I am not interested in the general use of the word chook = chicken,
> which is standard Australian slang dating back to 1900 (or possibly
> 1894).
>  
> Any information would be greatly appreciated
>  
> James Lambert
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