A similar comic exaggeration is seen in the phrase he couldn’t train a choko vine over a country dunny - a comment on a person’s incompetence. This expression recalls an earlier time when many Australians kept chooks (domestic chickens) in the backyard and the dunny was a separate outhouse. First recorded as chuckey in 1855.Ĭhook: may your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny downĪ jocular curse. See our Word of the Month articles ‘chook run’ and ‘chook lit’ for further uses of chook. The term has also been transferred to refer to other birds, and often in the form old chook it can refer to a woman. Chook is the common term for the live bird, although chook raffles, held in Australian clubs and pubs, have ready-to-cook chooks as prizes. Chook comes from British dialect chuck(y) ‘a chicken a fowl’ which is a variant of chick. Meanings and origins of Australian words and idiomsĪ domestic fowl a chicken. It is often popularly explained as an alteration of chook it is, from a time when chicken was considered an expensive delicacy: if a play was successful the actors would be paid well, and could eat well. – origin 1990s: probably from chook, although the precise origin is unclear. ▶ exclamation Australian used to wish a performer good luck: a big chookas to all involved in tomorrow’s show | chookas for a fantastic run and a brilliant season. (Oxford Dictionary of English, third edition) Therefore, if it was a full house, the performer would call out “Chook it is!”, which became abbreviated to “Chookas!” It is now used by performers prior to a show regardless of the number of patrons and may be a wish for a successful turnout. If the theatre was full they could then have “chook” -Australian slang for chicken- for dinner. If there were not many in the seats, the performers would have bread to eat following the performance. According to one oral tradition, one of the company would check audience numbers. In Australia, the term “chookas” has been used also. It’s very possible that it was used for “good luck” in the Australian theatre, and then shortened to “chookas.” “May your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny down” was a popular slang phrase in Australia in the 1970s. “May your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny down” (roughly translated as “May an emu destroy your outhouse") is from the Australian comedy film The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972) and was also used in the sequel, Barry McKenie Holds His Own (1974). In which case it really is part of the spiritual reverse psychology family of good/bad wishes” from “Good luck a game of reverse psychology” by Roly Sussex was printed in The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Queensland) on November 22, 2008. Or perhaps from the venerable Australian expression ‘may your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny down’. Unless it derives from some breaking of chook bones. “But that (the derivation from “chook it is”-ed.) makes chookas a positive wish for good fortune, and so very unusual: not one of the ‘break a leg’ expressions. It’s regarded as bad luck to wish someone “good luck.” However, citations of “cheers and good wishes” have not been found in print associated with the Australian theatre. Nothing to do with chicken” was posted by Simon Peppercorn on the site StackExhange: English Language and Usage on September 13, 2018. Originally pronounced Choogas, it’s a derived and typically Aussie abbreviated version of ‘Cheers and good wishes’. Chicken was not a rare dish in the 1980s. However, “chookas” was not cited in print in the early 1900s, but in 1981. Actors would, on hearing of a full house, call out ‘chook it is’ (Australians have called chicken chook since the late 1800s), which eventually became the good wish of ‘chookas’” was printed in the Townsville (Queensland) Bulletin on March 25, 2019. If the house were full and all the seats sold, they might be paid enough to afford a chicken dinner with all the trimmings. Williamson Theatre Company in the early 1900s, actors hoped that full houses might be enjoyed for all their performances. During the halcyon days of the touring J.C. “By the way, in Australia we don’t say ‘break a leg’ we say ‘chookas’. “Chookas Zoe.for what must be one of the most demanding roles ever” was printed in The Age on May 10, 1984. “There are more good-luck wishes, more ‘chookas’” was printed in The Age on April 12, 1984. “It is bad luck to say ‘Good luck’, so you utter meaningless little incantations like ‘Chookas’” was printed in The Age (Melbourne, Victoria) on February 14, 1981. The origin is unknown, but there are several theories. "Chookas” is an expression meaning “good luck” that is used in Australian theatre.
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