The bloody sport of cockfighting has its beginnings more than 6000 years ago. The ancient Persians are credited with inventing the game, although it appears in drawings and artifacts from ancient India, Greece and Rome.
Cocks, or roosters, fight one another naturally for dominance, much like males anywhere, but fighting cocks are bred from hyper aggressive stock in order to enhance the bloodline.
It is a brutal and bloody sport.
These days, many countries outlaw the practice due to the violence inflicted on the animals, as well as a means to control the gambling and racketeering that seems intrinsically linked to this most male of pastimes.
However, throughout Asia, the Middle East and South America this is still an extremely popular way to spend and afternoon.
Roosters naturally have a spur on their legs that is designed to assist with fighting other roosters, but these days gamecocks are often fitted with small metal spurs that the birds use to bring down their opponent. This leads to some very ugly scenes as the birds will often fight to the death in order to win.
It is no surprise then that a number of phrases that are used to describe particularly aggressive people are derived from this sport.
Words and phrases attributed to, and derived from, cock fights bear this out.
In the bad old days before female pilots, the front of a plane was named a cockpit.
It still IS called a cockpit but if the flight crew is all female you might hear the term ‘Box office’ to describe the nose section of the plane.
Being’ cocky’ or ‘plucky’ means being loud and egotistical- like a rooster, but if one feels sad they may be ‘crestfallen’, another poultry term.
Workers are familiar with the pecking order on the job and supervisors who are cocksure.
Even drinking a cocktail means you are in on the action.
Originally called a “cock ale,” the drinks were a stimulant that were, and still are, fed to fighting cocks before a main event. The term cock of the walk, a champion bird, referred to the gamecock exercise area and now refers to someone who feels in charge of a situation.
Cockfighting may still be popular in many places, but it is more than a little ugly to watch.
Seeing an animal wound another animal is painful to watch. Except if it’s boxing.
But it’s not just in the sporting arena that super pumped, hyper testosterone filled creatures get their rocks off by stepping on the heads of others.
Of course it’s not always the biggest kid in the playground who has the most to crow about. In life, it’s not always size that matters.
Elephants are bigger than mice, but try telling that to the elephant.
And even though a chicken is just a chicken, when he is a big aggressive male chicken, he is a cock.
