Feathered phrases: How birds influence how we talk — and think
Canaries in a coalmine, early birds and their worms
While out walking our dogs, years ago, my partner Liz said, "You walk pigeon-toed." It was the first and last time she said that.
A few weeks ago, on my way to the pool, I looked down at my feet while concentrating on my walk. Dang it all, she's right.
I went inside with the Nelly Furtado song in my head. You know, "I'm like a bird, I want to fly away." I thought, "What a coincidence. I'm like a bird, too — pigeon-toed with crow's feet."
I told my pool friends about the bird words and my revelation about my pigeon toes. Right away, the bird-isms came flying out of their mouths: the early bird, bird in the hand, birds of a feather and the wise old owl. I was intrigued. Such a tiny wee creature with so many words associated with them.
"Birdwatcher" is not a word that applies to me, and while I do have binoculars, I use them mainly for neighbourhood watch. There are times, though, when I'll stop and watch robins peck for plump juicy worms.
When what I will call the Real Housewives of Crow City gather overhead on the lines and begin to caw, coo and click, what I wouldn't give to understand them. No doubt some fine feathered friends have their feathers ruffled.
Yep, I thought I could fly
Did you hear the one about the seven-year-old girl who thought she could fly? Don't worry if you haven't: it was me.
Our family was living in Thompson, Man., and I ran so fast across a gravel-covered playground, I swear I was flying. It was my first — and last — flight.
A few years later, still in Thompson, we had a cornflower-blue budgie named Jeannie. On a warm day, apartment windows open, she took wing and flew the coop.
We were inconsolable and ran around like chickens with our heads cut off.
I still dream of Jeannie, and imagine her facing wicked Thompson winters wearing a Hudson's Bay coat and rubbing her tiny frostbitten claws together to stay warm.
I killed a mockingbird in Grade 7, and learned a folk dance called the Tennessee Wig Walk in phys ed. I still know the words. "I'm a bowlegged chicken and a knock-kneed hen."
In 1974 a seagull named Jonathan Livingston taught me that the biggest obstacle in my life was … me: "All the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you."
I sobbed so much over that little bird's death, it's no wonder I have crow's feet.
Magpie tendencies
My math skills are for the birds. However, my aunt calls me a magpie because I love shiny things, and I have them everywhere.
And you? Do you eat like a bird, are you happy as a lark, or crazy as a loon or, perhaps, a night owl, like my friend Noreen?
What is it about these warm-blooded feather-covered egg-laying horny-beaked, scaly-footed vertebrates that appeals to us so?
Mother Nature says, and I'm paraphrasing, they help in pest control, with pollinating plants and spreading the seeds that help feed us. Seagulls keep coral reefs alive, and the scavenging vultures — who have such a bad reputation — provide a cleanup service for the ecosystem.
Birds are like thermometers for nature. They respond quickly to changes in the environment, and scientists study birds because they're early warning systems.
Remember the proverbial canary in the coal mine? Early coal mines did not have ventilation systems. Miners would bring a caged canary underground. Canaries are sensitive to methane and carbon monoxide and can detect the smallest gas buildups.
If the canary stayed on the perch, singing, the air supply was safe. When the bird fell off its perch, it's time for you to run for your life.
There are as more than 10,000 species of birds, in all shapes, sizes and colours.
Maybe that is why there are so many bird sayings, metaphors, similes, idioms and, yes, fun facts. Many of these phrases have influenced not only how we talk, but perceive and think.
Did you know that pigeons have been used since millennia to report the results of the Olympics games? Today we use tweets!
I feel the need here to quote the wisdom of Bobby Day:
"Tweedle-lee-dee-dee-dee, tweedle-lee-dee-dee / Tweedle-lee-dee-dee-dee, tweedle-lee-dee-dee
Tweedle-lee-dee-dee-dee, tweedle-lee-dee-dee /Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet."
Some advice before I finish: don't count your chickens before they hatch, don't put all your eggs in one basket, and go on, fly like an eagle!
Next time in the pool, maybe the talk — and the words — will turn to fish.
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