A load of old cock

[stewamax]

Apropos of the use or misuse of phrases such 'white than white', how about ...
“What a load of old cock” – not this thread I hope but the use of the word ‘cock’.
Its etymology is convoluted.

- It does not refer to the male member.

- It is not related to poppycock as in “a load of poppycock” – and ‘poppycock’ comes from the Dutch for doll sh*t. This ‘cock’ has the same origin as the Anglo-Saxon cack (meaning sh*t), as in the still-used phrase ‘hard cack’ (hard luck).

- It appears to come from the truncated form of ‘cock and bull’ story, which is not from ‘cock and ball’ but a traditional fable, although there are many candidates (from Aesop onward) for the fable.

This elucidation may of course also be a load of old cock.

[AleisterCrowley]

It appears to come from the truncated form of ‘cock and bull’ story, which is not from ‘cock and ball’ but a traditional fable, although there are many candidates (from Aesop onward) for the fable.

I have read that this relates to two coaching inns in Stony Stratford - The Cock and The Bull, naturally!
But that may be a self referential C&B story....

[Rhyd6]

Cack is still in use around here but not as "hard cack" - bad luck. We tend to use the term "cacky" for any type of excrement or smelly substance such as "I've trodden in a pile of dog cack" or "Just seen Dewi driving past with his cacky machine" - Muck spreader.

R6

[kiloran]

Cack is still in use around here but not as "hard cack" - bad luck. We tend to use the term "cacky" for any type of excrement or smelly substance such as "I've trodden in a pile of dog cack" or "Just seen Dewi driving past with his cacky machine" - Muck spreader.

R6

And "cack handed" is not uncommon

--kiloran

[DiamondEcho]

Apropos of the use or misuse of phrases such 'white than white', how about ...
“What a load of old cock” – not this thread I hope but the use of the word ‘cock’. Its etymology is convoluted. - It does not refer to the male member. - It is not related to poppycock as in “a load of poppycock” – and ‘poppycock’ comes from the Dutch for doll sh*t. This ‘cock’ has the same origin as the Anglo-Saxon cack (meaning sh*t), as in the still-used phrase ‘hard cack’ (hard luck).
- It appears to come from the truncated form of ‘cock and bull’ story, which is not from ‘cock and ball’ but a traditional fable, although there are many candidates (from Aesop onward) for the fable.

I can tell you that what is presumably this anglisism has long been absorbed into Singaporean patois, aka 'Singlish'.
There if you suggest someone 'Talk cock' there is no question that you're accusing them of talking complete er... balls.
For a person to casually observe/comment (in a friendly but perhaps disenchanted way) 'Ah? Don tok cock ah!' is everyday inter-friend banter.

x-ref: references:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define. ... alk%20cock [ex Singapore]
http://dotzee.com/ 'Talkingcock.com - Singapore's most powerful satirical website'.

To me, out in Asia, the expression clearly derives from 'poppycock', introduced there during earlier colonial times. There are many parallel archaic Brit derived words like that alien now here back home, common and perhaps evolved out there. Same goes for the US, India, and so on...