# Does coq-a-l'ane = cockamamie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 13, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-coq-a-lane-cockamamie/154852 "2003-02-13T16:21:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pqgenie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@pqgenie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pqgenie)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-coq-a-lane-cockamamie/154852/1 "2003-02-13T16:21:02Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcockandbull.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcockandbull.html) To quote Czarcasm “There’s a French variation, coq-a-l’ane (cock to donkey)” Is this where ‘cockamamie’, as in “What a cockamamie idea” comes from? ---
**Author:** ![Ghostwise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Ghostwise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghostwise)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-coq-a-lane-cockamamie/154852/2 "2003-02-13T17:06:14Z")
Actually there is a small mistake - “coq a l’ane” doesn’t means “unbelievable story”, but when somebody changes the subject in mide-conversation without any warning. “Yes, the weather is splendid today. I still think Alexander wouldn’t have killed Cletus, no matter how drunk” is a coq a l’ane. Cockamamie is indeed a corruption of a French word, “decalcomanie” - see [http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000403](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000403) for more. ---
**Author:** ![pqgenie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@pqgenie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pqgenie)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-coq-a-lane-cockamamie/154852/3 "2003-02-13T19:18:07Z")
Cool. Many thanks. ---
**Author:** ![pqgenie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@pqgenie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pqgenie)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-coq-a-lane-cockamamie/154852/4 "2003-02-13T19:22:38Z")
Oh, and welcome to the SDMB! A great place for chatting, discussions, humor and (my favorite) lurking. ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-coq-a-lane-cockamamie/154852/5 "2003-02-13T21:06:19Z")
Couldn’t coq-a-l’ane also translate as cock _with_ donkey? As in coq au vin, etc., &c. ---
**Author:** ![DES](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@DES](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DES)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-coq-a-lane-cockamamie/154852/6 "2003-02-13T22:33:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by peepthis \* > \*\*Couldn’t coq-a-l’ane also translate as cock _with_ donkey? As in coq au vin, etc., &c. \*\* Yes, but no native speaker would understand it like that. “Passer du coq à l’âne” simply means to make a non sequitur. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-coq-a-lane-cockamamie/154852/7 "2003-02-14T00:23:05Z")
If “to go from cock to donkey,” means to make a non-sequitur, then I think it’s a pretty obvious metaphor, & not clearly connected to “cock-and-bull”. Czarcasm, explain yourself! ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-coq-a-lane-cockamamie/154852/8 "2003-02-14T00:48:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DES \* > \*\*Yes, but no native speaker would understand it like that. “Passer du coq à l’âne” simply means to make a non sequitur. \*\* Yes, I understand that it means a non sequitur in French; I wasn’t questioning its idiomatic connotation. What I was questioning is the phrase’s literal translation into English, which **Czarcasm** writes to be “cock to donkey.” I believe it would be the same as its English counterpart (i.e., cock and bull) and thus translate to “cock _and_ donkey.” ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-coq-a-lane-cockamamie/154852/9 "2003-02-14T02:11:33Z")
Shouldn’t it be translated as “cock to the ass”? More potential for discussion that way. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-coq-a-lane-cockamamie/154852/10 "2003-02-14T04:11:47Z")
**pqgenie** originally asks > [@](#): > > Is this(coq -a-l’ane) where ‘cockamamie’, as in “What a cockamamie idea” comes from? **Ghostwise** actually answers a different question in the next reply. **pqgenie** incorrectly assumes that the question is answered in the affirmative. **pqgenie**. _coq-a-l’ane_ and _cockamamie_ have nothing to do with each other in an etymological sense.