Yet another strange turn of a phrase, what does this mean???
Feb 16th, 2005, 12:32 PM
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Yet another strange turn of a phrase, what does this mean???
I'm something of a collector of odd place names and strange phrases. I've heard this once in England and had forgotten it until I saw it in a Fodor discussion string.
"Why, you are as daft as a battery chicken."
The meaning is fairly obvious, now, any ideas where it came from and why?
"Why, you are as daft as a battery chicken."
The meaning is fairly obvious, now, any ideas where it came from and why?
Feb 16th, 2005, 01:00 PM
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It is a British term having to do with the inhumane issues associated with factory farming-specifically, chickens that are in tiny wire cages with their beaks and claws cut, living out their short lives in misery and confinement-kept alive only to produce battery eggs-as opposed to free range chickens who are allowed to peck around outside in the fresh air and sunshine, with beaks and claws intact.
Feb 16th, 2005, 01:01 PM
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It is a term used in the UK to describe a specific type of chicken farming. Please reference definition #3:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/defi...6305&dict=CALD
A battery chicken is assumed to be daft because when it is uncaged it does not flap its wings about, and cannot really fly at all, due to the fact it has never had the opportunity to do so because of the very tight confinement of its cage.
BC
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/defi...6305&dict=CALD
A battery chicken is assumed to be daft because when it is uncaged it does not flap its wings about, and cannot really fly at all, due to the fact it has never had the opportunity to do so because of the very tight confinement of its cage.
BC
Feb 16th, 2005, 01:01 PM
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Feb 17th, 2005, 12:23 AM
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I must say I've never heard it, but it must be quite recent since battery farming is not that old.
Much more confusing is the older phrase 'daft as a brush': but since the phrase itself is daft I've never supposed it needed logical explanation.
Much more confusing is the older phrase 'daft as a brush': but since the phrase itself is daft I've never supposed it needed logical explanation.
Feb 17th, 2005, 02:53 AM
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Ira, what does that mean???
>"I could just smack them around the chops"<
means, that someone needs a smack.....
I was speaking on the phone today to an American living in Florida (renting an apartment from him in London), he could barely understand a word I said. I promise I was not speaking in Aussie slang....probably too quickly. It is fun though how we have strange phrases.
How about "mad as a chook with it's head cut off" (translation Chook=chicken)
>"I could just smack them around the chops"<
means, that someone needs a smack.....
I was speaking on the phone today to an American living in Florida (renting an apartment from him in London), he could barely understand a word I said. I promise I was not speaking in Aussie slang....probably too quickly. It is fun though how we have strange phrases.
How about "mad as a chook with it's head cut off" (translation Chook=chicken)
Feb 17th, 2005, 03:13 AM
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Nikki:
No, it's a term (which I'm sure I've seen in American and Australian) for a row of things, as in "the typing pool had a long battery of typewriters" or any other kind of array ("I had to take a battery of tests"). I think the history is that the term comes from batteries of weapons, and was then taken over by batteries of electricity-providing devices (the earliest ones used lots of devices joined up)so many people think the word refers only to those things that run out just when you don't want them to.
Industrialised hensheds have batteries of hen cages, and so became known as chicken batteries.
No, it's a term (which I'm sure I've seen in American and Australian) for a row of things, as in "the typing pool had a long battery of typewriters" or any other kind of array ("I had to take a battery of tests"). I think the history is that the term comes from batteries of weapons, and was then taken over by batteries of electricity-providing devices (the earliest ones used lots of devices joined up)so many people think the word refers only to those things that run out just when you don't want them to.
Industrialised hensheds have batteries of hen cages, and so became known as chicken batteries.
Feb 17th, 2005, 03:36 AM
#13
Thanks flanneruk, I'd heard of a battery of tests but never thought of that as a row of them. Not sure I've heard that usage in any other context though, and not as applied to chicken cages. Fascinating.
Feb 17th, 2005, 03:47 AM
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Not sure if this is the correct thread to post this question on but here goes anyway!
What is a "Diorama" and what is the fascination with them in the states - kids making dioramas regularly feature in US films and tv programmes - seems to be some kind of rite of passage for most american school children.
What? Why?
Dr D.
What is a "Diorama" and what is the fascination with them in the states - kids making dioramas regularly feature in US films and tv programmes - seems to be some kind of rite of passage for most american school children.
What? Why?
Dr D.
Feb 17th, 2005, 03:54 AM
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I recall an old S J Perelman humour piece in which a snobby friend mentions that he keeps his sailboat off Long Island, between East Chop and West Chop.
Perelman replies (wait for it!) "I was so glad to hear you'd got a smack in the Chops."
Perelman replies (wait for it!) "I was so glad to hear you'd got a smack in the Chops."
Feb 17th, 2005, 05:21 AM
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Dr. D,
A diorama is a 3-dimensional depiction of a scene of some kind, from a story or from some history. I honestly didn't know kids were still making them since everything is so video-driven these days! We did make them during my time in school. Usually a shoe box standing on its side serves as the stage and place of scene, and then one constructs figures or gets toy soliders to put inside after having "decorated" the interior back and sides to reflect whatever is going on in the scene. One can also use clay or Play-Dough to make hills, rocks, trees, etc. in 3 dimensions for the diorama.
I have no idea why we were required to do this, perhaps to make sure we developed some sense of spatial reasoning within a specific context!
BC
A diorama is a 3-dimensional depiction of a scene of some kind, from a story or from some history. I honestly didn't know kids were still making them since everything is so video-driven these days! We did make them during my time in school. Usually a shoe box standing on its side serves as the stage and place of scene, and then one constructs figures or gets toy soliders to put inside after having "decorated" the interior back and sides to reflect whatever is going on in the scene. One can also use clay or Play-Dough to make hills, rocks, trees, etc. in 3 dimensions for the diorama.
I have no idea why we were required to do this, perhaps to make sure we developed some sense of spatial reasoning within a specific context!
BC
