Lemme give you the lowdown on the Local Lingo…
In the Northern Territory, we seem to enjoy that unique Tru-Blu Aussie twist to the language. It’s those everyday local terms that somehow find their way into my stories.
Terms that are foreign to some of my readers.
And the fun part is I get to interpret them like this month…
It’s the Local Lingo on—The CHOOK
What is a chook, and why am I talking chooks?
Besides being a common staple for farms, there’s a cranky chook in my ESLIE CREEK SERIES who is the companion to a ribbon-wearing water buffalo! Oh, and there’s a group of rogue hens in THE STATION!
Still with me?
Good. Now let’s check out the poultry affair on the word chook.
What is a Chook:
Comes from the word chick of the feathered hen. A fowl. You know, the grown-up hen-pecked version of the cute fluffy little chickens that is a friend to the Easter bunny!
Should I quit now?
Basically, a chook is the egg-laying, feathered, squawking upright drumsticks. Huh?
It says so in the chook book – not cook book!
Many of us are aware that chick and chicken are the nicknames for a girl or a small child. So, what about chicky-babe for your girlfriend?
And you never forget the taunt of chicken for someone who is too scared to follow through on a schoolyard dare.
Then there’s the hatching of the extra chook terms:
‘Ya silly chook,’ instead of a goose!
Chookie instead of Duckie.
Old chook is an old hen and a loving term for an elderly member of the family or a friend.
As much as I hate to beak-it to you, many from overseas tell me that a chook is the name for their warm knitted hats we call a beanie.
Then you have this little nugget…
Chook Raffle:
It’s like a local lottery where you buy a ticket to win a live hen or cooked chook in the pub. The prizes are as simple as a meat tray where a name gets plucked out of a hat before a clucky crowd.
Chook Wars:
Oh, it’s real. And random. And so much snort-laughing fun with puns intended, that the language choices will leave you looking at the hen in a whole new way!
Don’t say I didn’t warn you…
Chook Run:
Is the fenced area outside the chicken’s coop for chooks to scratch around.
Also known as that dash to the shops for milk.
Aaaand to add to this hootin’ hen house…
The chook run in golf is the social 6 or 9-hole game where you’ll find a hot chook somewhere as a prize. Oh, and beer, and wine, and…
The most famous Aussie Chook?
No idea, although many claim the bin-chicken is making a name for themselves everywhere…
And that’s the free-range fun of wordplay!
Talking about wordplay – what happens when you get a gaggle of hens that go rogue? That’s right, chooks on the loose become a plot point in the story THE STATION! Who knew you could have so much fun with these feathered friends?
