# How did the cuckoo call become a synonym for someone who is crazy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476 "2002-07-23T23:54:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/1 "2002-07-23T23:54:59Z")
I think the OP explains itself. I want to know how this interesting bird’s call became a popular euphemism for someone that has lost his or her sensibilities ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/2 "2002-07-24T00:02:15Z")
This is a secret well-guarded by the insane. You would have to be indoctrinated into our secret cult first. You WILL BE one of US! In the state of insanity, - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/3 "2002-07-24T00:07:52Z")
I haven’t been able to find _how_ the two became associated, but according to [this](http://www.geocities.com/etymonline/c11etym.htm), the term first appeared in American slang in 1918. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/4 "2002-07-24T00:14:46Z")
The European Cuckoo repeats its call incessantly through the day. Therefore the name of the bird became used with someone who speaks senselessly and pointlessly. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/5 "2002-07-24T00:22:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Darwin’s Finch \* > \*\*I haven’t been able to find _how_ the two became associated, but according to [this](http://www.geocities.com/etymonline/c11etym.htm), the term first appeared in American slang in 1918. \*\* But the earlier sense of “stupid person” goes back to 1581. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/6 "2002-07-24T16:44:21Z")
From **The Handbook of Birds of the World** : > [@](#): > > Shakespeare’s plays mention the cuckoo as a voice in the wilderness, of little importance, without recognition of his kin and _homo repudiandus_. (Prince Hal consorted with Falstaff and the rioters and neglected his social relations with the court): > > _So when he had occasion to be seen > He was but as the cuckoo in June, > Heard, not regarded . . ._ > > (KIng Henry IV, Part 1, III, 2, 74-76) A much earlier association of the cuckoo with “nonsense” is that of Aristophanes’ setting of his play _The Birds_ in “Cloud-Cuckoo-Land.” ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/7 "2002-07-24T17:18:45Z")
Thanks Colibri, That is getting me close to an answer. I still don’t know where it came from exactly but I can see that it is really old. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/8 "2002-07-24T17:27:53Z")
Well, the Oxford English Dictionary specifically says: > [@](#): > > 1. Applied to a person, esp. in reference to the bird’s monotonous call, or its habit of laying its eggs in the nests of other birds, = a fool. (first cite listed from 1581) It’s just a short step from extending the meaning from “foolish,” to “crazy.” While I don’t believe it’s directly related to the derivation, it’s worth noting that several species of cuckoos from South Asia, particularly the Plaintive and Brush Cuckoos, are known as “Brain-Fever Birds.” Their loud, monotonous calls, repeated incessantly through the sweltering nights of India, were alleged by British colonials to be enough to provoke brain-fever and madness. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/9 "2002-07-24T20:19:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colibri \* > \*\*Well, the Oxford English Dictionary specifically says: > > 1. Applied to a person, esp. in reference to the bird’s monotonous call, or its habit of laying its eggs in the nests of other birds, = a fool. > > (first cite listed from 1581) > > \*\* I believe this is also where the term “cuckold” comes from - a man unknowingly supporting a child fathered by another. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/10 "2002-07-24T21:01:24Z")
Yes, the Cuckoo is emblematic of several things: 1. Spring, since it is a migrant, and its call signals the start of the growing season. _Sumer is icumin in Lhude sing cuckoo!_ 1. Unfaithfulness, because the female lays its eggs in the nest of other birds (hence, cuckold). 2. Foolishness, due to its repititious call and its lack of care of its own young. 3. Changeablity, being reputed to change into a Sparrowhawk (which it somewhat resembles) at the end of summer, thus explaining its absence during the winter when it migrates. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Miss\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_M)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/11 "2018-10-30T04:28:36Z")
In the novel Wuthering Heights, Hindley refers to Heathcliff as a cuckoo, meaning an imposter. Cuckoo birds are brood parasites, meaning that they lay their eggs in other birds’ nests. Then the unwitting birds raise it as their own if it is not discovered and ejected. The novel was published around 1840 so the common use at that time was used on orphans and bastards to mean they weren’t quite right; didn’t quite fit in. This was taken to mean by some as “behaving oddly” and it was evolved to describe the mentally deficient and those with psychiatric issues. Thus today when someone uses the label it is meant that “they are off in the head”. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/12 "2018-10-30T05:20:14Z")
I think coo-coo is the inspiration for cray-cray. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/13 "2018-10-30T07:00:18Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > I think coo-coo is the inspiration for cray-cray. Or Ga-ga. All of them imply a bit of infantilism or simple-mindedness by an association with baby-talk or blah-blah. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/14 "2018-10-30T10:06:31Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The European Cuckoo repeats its call incessantly through the day. Are there no other common European birds that do this? ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/15 "2018-10-30T11:24:34Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > … Brush Cuckoos, are known as “Brain-Fever Birds.” Their loud, monotonous calls, repeated incessantly through the sweltering nights of India, were alleged by British colonials to be enough to provoke brain-fever and madness. Feel sorry for the delicate Bertie Woosters and can total understand how a bird’s call can make them go bezerk. Also, Colibri I think you are referring to the hawk cuckoo and not the brush cuckoo. The Koel (hawk cuckoo) is very shy bird - rarely seen but heard spring through summer in India. It’s a bird symbolizing love in poems and folklore. Some people love bird songs and some don’t - I personally love this bird. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/16 "2018-10-30T13:17:15Z")
So, if the cuckoo is a brood parasite (lays its eggs in another bird’s nest), and presumably doesn’t need to protect a territory to feed its young, why does it call all the time? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/17 "2018-10-30T14:01:03Z")
Enormous sexual appetite? ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/18 "2018-10-30T14:26:45Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > So, if the cuckoo is a brood parasite (lays its eggs in another bird’s nest), and presumably doesn’t need to protect a territory to feed its young, why does it call all the time? A male sets up his territory and then invites mates by calling. He also calls to keep other rival males away. I have heard (Maybe Colibri can confirm) that the female cuckoo bird can hold its eggs for extended periods until she finds a suitable host. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/19 "2018-10-30T15:03:39Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > A male sets up his territory and then invites mates by calling. He also calls to keep other rival males away. > > I have heard (Maybe Colibri can confirm) that the female cuckoo bird can hold its eggs for extended periods until she finds a suitable host. But once mating season is over (sometime in the spring I assume), why would the cuckoo care about other males coming along? For most birds, they don’t want any others of their species coming along (even after mating) because they’ll compete for food, which the territory’s male needs to feed his kids. But a cuckoo shouldn’t care that much – it’s the host bird that feeds the kids, not the cuckoo. Now the male cuckoo wouldn’t want any other birds of the host species coming in, since they’ll be competing with the host for food to feed the kids, but the cuckoo’s singing wouldn’t keep them out, would it? ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476/20 "2018-10-30T15:24:51Z")
**Quercus:** there remain some options for why the cuckoo has a call. But whenever we do these things, we devolve into “just so” stories. However: Birds, particularly songbirds (members of the clade Passeri, of the Order: Passeriformes, commonly called perching birds) evolved a call to defend their territories. Cuckoos also evolved the behaviors and morphology to be brood parasites. They don’t need, as much perhaps, to defend territory, but they haven’t evolved the loss of the singing trait because … why would they? They haven’t lost their syrinx – an extra powerful “voice box” outside of the pharynx other vertebrates use to make sounds, so why _ **not** _ use it? Just how much energy would be saved? Cuckoos may have more complex social order than we realize. Research on crows show they have very complicated social behavior mediated by their song – yeah, that “caw caw” is way more complex than it seems to a layman. Cuckoos aren’t _ **supposed** _ to have a complex social structure, but maybe they do? Maybe male cuckoos keep something like a harem – as in, a reservoir of females, and drive all males away? Or maybe not. Maybe cuckoos have to drive all rivals away. If too many congregate in one area, they could deplete all broods to parasitize. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-cuckoo-call-become-a-synonym-for-someone-who-is-crazy/120476.md?page=2)