What is the origin of "Bird Course?"
December 7, 2007 1:51 PM   Subscribe

Etymologyfilter: what is the origin of the term"Bird Course"?
posted by Fuzzy Monster to Writing & Language (8 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
It could be incorrect, but many people suggest the origin is the ability to "fly right through" a bird course.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:57 PM on December 7, 2007


I'm slightly ashamed to know this, but burnmp3s' explanation was given toward the beginning of the movie Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (by Lauryn Hill's character, IIRC). I'd be interested to know if it predates that.
posted by pmdboi at 2:06 PM on December 7, 2007


Here's a description of the golf term "birdie" that includes the following interesting claim:

In American slang of the 19th Century, the term 'bird' was applied to anything particularly great. "Bird" was the 'cool' of the 1800s in the U.S.

Seems like it might be related, though it's a bit odd that the term wound up prevalent in Canada if it's based on US slang.
posted by contraption at 2:08 PM on December 7, 2007


It's definitely older than that, pmdboi, I've heard people speak of easy courses like that who went to school decades prior.
posted by cashman at 2:27 PM on December 7, 2007


It's old-fashioned sexist slang. Historically, "bird" courses were those that were thought easy enough for a "bird"—or woman—to do well in. See also: lass class, filly 101, and dame curriculum.
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:30 PM on December 7, 2007 [1 favorite]


I'm afraid that sounds all too plausible to me.
posted by languagehat at 6:14 PM on December 7, 2007


My own contribution to the bogus-folk-etymology potluck is going to be to speculate that it's related to "for the birds," i.e., not big stuff, not a big deal.

As to actual, reliable results, I went looking for some citations, but "bird course" is not in OED or the British National Corpus, and has never appeared in Time magazine. A few documented uses in context might go a way towards answering this, but I confess I'm skunked.
posted by eritain at 7:07 PM on December 7, 2007


Response by poster: Interesting answers. Thanks, everyone. A course you can just "fly through" makes sense, as does (unfortunately) the notion that "bird course" is old-fashioned sexist slang.

Does anyone know if "Bird Course" is listed in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary?
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 10:39 AM on December 8, 2007


« Older How do I fire someone without demoralizing the...   |   that 70's southern california brownish-orange... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.