Martha talks about the hoopoe, that colorful, clownish, extremely smelly bird—with a likely linguistic connection to defrauded hedge fund investors.
Transcript of “Hoopoe Heads (minicast)”
Welcome to another Minicast from A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette.
Listen, can you guess what this is?
Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.
No, it’s not Morse code, it’s not a baby chimp, it’s the sound of the Hoop-o.
Funny looking bird, the Hoop-o.
It has a pink head, zebra striped wings, and what looks like a great party hat of pink feathers all tipped in black and white.
The flight of the Hoop-o is somewhat erratic; it looks more like a butterfly than a bird.
And one other odd thing about Hoop-os, their nests are extremely stinky.
Hoop-os actually line their nests with their own droppings, all the better to keep predators away.
Even the bird’s name looks weird; it’s spelled H-O-O-P-O-E.
The Hoop-o is found throughout much of Europe, Africa, and Asia.
In many cultures, this bird is highly regarded.
In folklore, the wise biblical King Solomon took advice from a Hoop-o.
In fact, just last year, Israelis voted the Hoop-o their country’s national bird.
In other cultures though, the Hoop-o isn’t so well regarded.
In Greek myth, this otherworldly bird was a symbol of death.
And in France, the Hoop-o has long been considered stupid.
Maybe that’s because of its colorful clownish appearance, although I’m sure the nest thing didn’t help.
So why am I telling you all this?
Well, in ancient Rome, this bird that went hoop, hoop, hoop, was called the Hoop-o-pa, logical enough.
In Middle French, this name evolved into something that sounded more like oop.
It’s likely that this word for the bird then led to the modern French word dupe, a shortening of tête dupe or Hoop-o-head.
In French, a dupe is a fool or simpleton.
And as you might’ve guessed, it’s from this French word dupe that we get the English word dupe, that is someone who’s been played for a fool.
We hear this word more and more, of course, as the sordid details of Wall Street scandals emerge.
And each time I come across that word dupe, I can’t help but hear the distant call of the Hoop-o.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about birds, words, or anything else as it relates to language.
Send them to us here at A Way with Words.
The address is words@waywordradio.org.
For A Way with Words, I’m Martha Barnette.
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Listen: Can you guess what this is?
‘Huup huup huup…huup huup huup…huup huup huup.’
No, it’s not Morse code. Not a baby chimp. It’s the sound of the hoopoe.
Funny-looking bird, the hoopoe. It has a pink head, zebra-striped wings, and what looks like a great party hat of pink feathers tipped in black and white.
The hoopoe’s flight is somewhat erratic, more like a butterfly than a bird. One other odd thing about hoopoes: their nests are extremely stinky. Hoopoes line their nests with their own droppings, all the better to keep predators away.
Even the bird’s name looks weird: It’s spelled h-o-o-p-o-e.
The hoopoe is found in much of Europe, Africa, and Asia. In many cultures, this bird is highly regarded. The Biblical King Solomon is said to have taken advice from a hoopoe. In fact, just last year Israelis voted the hoopoe their country’s national bird.
In other cultures, though, the hoopoe isn’t so well-regarded. In Greek myth, this otherworldly bird was a symbol of death. And in France, the hoopoe has long been considered stupid. Maybe that’s because of its colorful, clownish appearance, although I’m sure the nest thing didn’t help.
So, why am I telling you all this?
In ancient Rome, this bird that went ‘huup huup huup’ was called the upupa. Logical enough.
In Middle French, this name evolved into something that sounded more like uppe. It’s likely that from this word for the bird arose the modern French ‘dupe,’ a shortening of ‘tete d’uppe’ or ‘hoopoe head.’ In French, a ‘dupe’ is a ‘fool or simpleton.’
As you may have guessed, it’s this French word dupe from which we get the English word ‘dupe’ — someone who’s been played for a fool.
We’re hearing this word more and more, as the sordid details of Wall Street scandals emerge. And each time I come across that word ‘dupe,’ I can’t help but hear the distant call of the hoopoe.
