spangled drongo again and galahs

["Philip Veerman" <>]

About Martin's stories. Sounds good but not just galahs do this crazy rain bathing thing, cockatoos and corellas do that too.

 

One could also ask the question about the name of booby.

 

Philip

 

-----Original Message-----
From: martin butterfield [
Sent: Tuesday, 5 January 2010 10:11 AM
To: David McDonald
Cc:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] spangles drongo again

Margaret also asked about
"galah".  

As an example of a (inadvertant) perjorative use of the
bird's name, many years ago - I think early 70s- an eminent ornithologist
visiting from the US was asked, by a journalist  on arrival in Sydney, what
he was going to do in Australia.  His response was "Study the galahs in
Canberra.".  He wondered why people fell about laughing.

Some years
later after I had moved to Canberra I observed a bunch of galahs reacting to
rain (what is that? I hear you ask) by swinging upside down off power lines and
screeching furiously.  To try to understand why they did this I tried to
track down the research project by the visiting US expert  but
failed.  When I asked another member of COG why they did this the response
was "That is typical of their behaviour.  It explains why idiots are called
galahs."

Martin

On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 9:43 AM, David McDonald <> wrote:

The Australian National Dictionary advises at http://203.166.81.53/and/index.php :

Drongo
Transf. use of  drongo the name of a bird. Perh. infl. by its earlier use as the name of a racehorse (running between 1923 and 1925): see quots. 1924 and 1946.] A fool or simpleton, a ‘no-hoper’ (orig. of a Royal Australian Air Force recruit). Also drong and attrib.

[1924  Argus (Melbourne) 1 Nov. 24/5 Drongo is sure to be a very hard horse to beat. He is improving with every run.] 1941  Somers Sun 2 July 2 When you are called Drongo, ignore it. 1942 A.J. McIntyre Putting over Burst 3 I’m just a flamin’ drongo, Just a lowdown useless wart. 1944  Barging About: Organ 43 Austral. Landing Craft Co. 1 Sept. 6 All the tribes of Oz did gather together, even the tribes of … Drongoes, Dopes and Dills. 1946  Salt (Melbourne) 8 Apr. 22 Drongo was the name of a horse who failed to win a race. … The horse retired in 1925 and after that anybody or anything slow or clumsy became a Drongo. 1952 P. Pinney Road in Wilderness 72 Only thing you drongoes can think of is beer, beer, beer, and a sheila on the side. 1960 N. Cato Green grows Vine 46 ‘What a drongo,’ said Mitch. ‘Dron-go?’ said Maria. ‘A dill—a no-hoper.’ 1966 D. Niland Pairs & Loners 135, I didn’t waste time like some drongo salesman who can’t tell when the customer really means no. 1968 G. Mill Nobody dies but Me 14 It's very likely we’re the cleanest bunch of drongs in the entire R-bloody-double-A.F. 1973 H. Williams My Love 89 He said it was a job for drongoes, rubbing down cars one after another. 1981 P. Radley Jack Rivers & Me 25 ‘What's a bodgie, Connie?’ ‘A drongo who's younger than a grub but thinks he's old enough to have a widgie.’

The Oxford English Dictionary 2nd edn 1989 (online) isn't so sure about the racehorse bit:

    Drongo
3. A simpleton, a stupid person; see also quot. 1942. Hence as adj., silly, foolish. Austral. slang.
  The statement in quot. 1966 is highly speculative.
1942 A. G. MITCHELL in Southerly Apr., Drongo, an R.A.A.F. recruit. 1945 BAKER Austral. Lang. vi. 130 Drongo and sonky, mean silly or foolish. Ibid. viii. 156 Drongo, second-rate, worthless. Ibid. 160 Drongo, a raw recruit. 1953 R. BRADDON in I. Bevan Sunburnt Country 130 Drongo: No-hoper: Galah, all these are derogatory terms. They imply stupidity in the person at whom the word is flung. 1957 J. CLEARY Green Helmet 19 You're just a bloody drongo who doesn't know any better. 1960 S. H. COURTIER Gently dust Corpse xii. 177 Damn what you thought!.. I never realized you were such an unmitigated drongo. 1966 BAKER Austral. Lang. (ed. 2) vi. 135 Its popular zoological name has only the remotest link with the use of drongo to denote a slow-witted or stupid person. That application seems to have come from the use of Drongo as the name of a horse..[which] won a certain claim to fame by consistently finishing last or near last. 1968 K. WEATHERLY Roo Shooter 130 If we don't get her some dingo will, or some drongo of a holiday-shooter will murder her. 1969 Advertiser (Adelaide) 12 May 5/4 You Aussie coves are just a bunch of drongoes.

Cheers - David

On 5/01/2010 8:53 AM, Margaret Leggoe wrote:

Does anyone know how the word "drongo" came to be used to describe a stupid
person?  Ditto "galah" and "birdbrain".
Cheers
Margaret L