# Why are Cowards Chickens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cowards-chickens/503234 "2009-07-16T17:12:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cowards-chickens/503234/41 "2009-07-20T19:02:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Domestic turkeys are stupider than sheep. And chickens, being further removed from their wild form, are probably stupider yet. I do have to grant, at least, that there’s no documented case of a sheep living for years after decapitation. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cowards-chickens/503234/42 "2009-07-20T20:00:24Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > **MOIDAZIZE** We’re in General Questions. I’m not sure what you’re trying to do, but it doesn’t have a place in GQ. > > **samclem** Moderator, General Questions I think he was making a joke based on the earlier reference to _Back to the Future_, where Biff tells Marty to “make like a tree and get out of here.” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cowards-chickens/503234/43 "2009-07-21T00:33:13Z")
> [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](#): > > I think he was making a joke based on the earlier reference to _Back to the Future_, where Biff tells Marty to “make like a tree and get out of here.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cowards-chickens/503234/44 "2009-07-22T06:17:16Z")
Yea **samclem** , so make like a banana and get the flock outta here! ---
**Author:** ![mrpayday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@mrpayday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrpayday)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cowards-chickens/503234/45 "2009-07-22T06:35:23Z")
somebody connect it to white feathers or the 4 feathers 'cause i’m too lazy to do it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cowards-chickens/503234/46 "2009-07-22T08:13:54Z")
According to [this Middle English dictionary](http://books.google.com/books?id=vG-EZAjM5RgC&pg=PA243&lpg=PA243&dq=cherles+chekyn&source=bl&ots=wmIkgqeYdh&sig=dIVr1-6znE_8mVgzgdWkiJP03WU&hl=en), “chicken” meant a young fowl or the young of any bird. We also see the usage “cherles chekyn,” (as noted by **samclem** above) meaning “son of a churl,” and “fendes chike,” meaning “the devil’s offspring.” (I’m guessing “fende” became our “fiend.”) So that’s several usages that imply, at least to my fevered brain, that “chick” or “chicken,” meaning “young fowl,” could be used to connote being something’s baby, rather than being a member of a particular species. (Think of the modern usage “when I was a pup.”) From there, it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine that when a Middle English speaker called you “chicken,” he was calling you a tender, inexperienced baby-- the sort who’s not much good in a fight. I’m not a linguist or anything, but this would make sense to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cowards-chickens/503234.md?page=2)