“Crack of Chicken” Seems to Splice “Crack of Dawn” with “When the Cock Crows”

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Elizabeth from Dallas, Texas.

Hello, Elizabeth. Welcome.

Hi, welcome to the show.

Well, thank you.

What’s going on?

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I had sent an email to my colleagues telling them that someone had left me a voicemail at the crack of chicken. And I caught all these replies saying, “Crack of chicken, what are you talking about?” And I just thought they were crazy.

So I was telling my husband about it, and he’s like, “I’ve never heard that, Elizabeth.” So I thought I would call you because I’ve been using it for a long time, but I don’t know where it comes from.

Elizabeth, what time is crack of chicken?

Crack of chicken for me is absurdly early.

Okay.

Sort of like dark 30 or oh, dark 30.

Yeah, oh, dark 30, that kind of thing. Like a lot of times I do use crack of dawn, but I started thinking about, well, when do I use crack of chicken? And I usually use that when it seems like someone’s doing something at a ridiculously early time of day.

And so in your mind, you see an image of a rooster probably when you say that, right?

I do, but I still say chicken instead of rooster because crack a chicken to me sounds better, I think, than crack a rooster.

Well, it does, doesn’t it?

I like it. It reminds me of rocket surgery. It’s a mixed idiom.

Yeah.

Right?

I like that too.

Well, yeah, because you’ve got the crack of dawn, which we all know means the first light of day, and you have variants of, these are kind of old-fashioned, but when the cock crows or when the rooster crows.

Yeah, or up with the chickens or go to bed with the chickens.

Yeah, exactly. So it sounds like you’ve just mixed your idioms a little bit, and you’ve got one that’s got a little bit of humor to it.

So they should have been laughing instead of scratching their heads.

Well, I think they were laughing, but mostly at me. But you know what? It’s got some history. I don’t know how far back it goes, but you can Google this phrase, this sweet little phrase, and it’s out there.

Perfectly normal, sane people are using it all across the country.

Well, good. I’m glad to hear that.

And there’s a variant, too. Crack of rooster is one that I found, and that goes back at least about 20 years or so.

Okay.

Yeah.

That’s interesting.

I’ve heard scratch of dawn.

Ooh, nice.

Which makes me think of—

Ooh, I like scratch of dawn. And that makes you think of chickens, too, doesn’t it?

Yeah, it does. Because when they get up and start looking for feed.

Yeah. Scratch of dawn. Crack of chicken. I like the sound of crack a chicken.

Well, I think that’s probably why I use it, because I like alliteration. It’s kind of poetic. It makes you think.

Mm—

That’s good.

Elizabeth, thanks for sharing. This is great.

You’re welcome.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Take care.

Appreciate your help.

-huh.

Sure.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Well, the early bird gets the word here on A Way with Words, so call us 877-929-9673, or send us your questions and email to words@waywordradio.org.