No-one is ever going to persuade me that a cock goes quiquiriqui or kikiriki, no matter what its nationality. After years of beratement (yes, I know this word doesn’t exist but I feel it should) from my students, however, I am prepared to admit that cock-a-doodle-doo is also pushing it a bit. Perhaps the Japanese come closest with the cleaner kokekokkoo.   Take a listen and see what you think.  Kikiriki?

According to sociologist and journalist Amando de Miguel, ‘kik’ is a characteristic sound many birds make and also of things that hit against each other or move rapidly – in the romance-related languages at least. For example, in French, cocks go coquelicot, in Catalan, quiquiriquíc, and in Portuguese, cocorocó. He also makes the point that echar un quiqui is a ‘sweet’ way of saying to have hurried, spontaneous sex (from the English ‘to have a quickie’) – and that by way of association the  cock has always been a symbol of sexual masculinity.

Mm, if you say so Amando. Interestingly, the Greek word for rooster is kíkiros. And rooster, Spanish readers, is a handy alternative for the blush-inducing ‘cock’.

N.b. Any diehard Dylan fans out there will have noticed the title link.  In case not, here it is.

Tags: Humour, Spanish language

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at 9:13 am and is filed under Comparing Spanish and English, Humour, Miscellaneous, Spanish language. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.