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 13:19:26 +0930
I remember a friend of my mother's called Chook from the 1960s.

Did the article Glen wrote refer to his search of the Darwin Botanic Gardens
for a feral chicken?


Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
PO Box 3460 NT 0832, AUSTRALIA
Ph. 61 08 89 328306
Birdwatching and Indigenous tourism consultant
PhD Candidate

http:// www.denisegoodfellow.com
http://web.mac.com/goodfellowdl
http://www.earthfoot.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baby-dreaming
http://www.ausbird.com
http://birderstravel.com




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.
> 
> -----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
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get rid of those unwanted christmas presents! Get what you want at ebay.
> http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Frover%2Eebay%2Ecom%2Frov
> er%2
> F1%2F705%2D10129%2D5668%2D323%2F4%3Fid%3D10&_t=763807330&_r=hotmailTAGLI
> NES&
> _m=EXT==========www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
> 
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe 
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to: 
> ===========
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 8.0.233 / Virus Database: 270.10.15/1924 - Release Date:
> 01/29/09 17:57:00
> 
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
> 
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe 
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:  ===============================
> 
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
> 
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe 
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to: 
> ===============================


===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, 
send the message:
unsubscribe 
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU