Chicken.
Scaredy Cat.
Turkey.
Kids crack me up.
I'm getting ahead of myself ...
Gone are the days when families raised food for
their family's consumption, but years ago most families did. Most had some sort
of garden and raised animals for meat. Even families who resided "in
town" and were spatially challenged kept smaller animals such as fowl for
meat and/or eggs. Chickens and turkeys were as familiar to most children, then,
as cats and dogs are to children now.
And for generations, taunts derived from this
knowledge have echoed in America's school yards. Chicken. BOOOCK! BockBockBock.
Superficially, a simple insult, yet when one pauses underlying complexities are
apparent.
The kid who's a chicken is a vastly different
creature than the kid who's a scaredy cat and the kid who's a turkey.
Chickens are stupid and afraid of anything
unfamiliar. That makes them "flighty". It's an inherent quality and
the one word is sufficient.
Scaredy cat. Two words. Cats are smarter, more
complex creatures than chickens, and an adjective is required to
accurately convey the taunter's intent. What kind of cat? A scaredy cat.
Turkey - again, one word. A living, breathing,
flesh and blood domestic turkey is possibly the dumbest animal on earth. It is
apt to die at any given moment because it's too stupid to be afraid. It walks
right into the danger with a skip in its step and a song in its heart. Turkey
is the proper moniker to assign to the class fool oblivious of the consequences
of his* actions. You know this kid's going to spend a lot of recesses with his
head on his desk, but he's good with it because he's making nose prints on the
desktop.
Kids don't need to think about any of this.
They just know it. Even while taunting, they know there's more purpose in
taunting the scaredy cat than the chicken because the chicken is long gone - it
flew the coop. The scaredy cat is still hanging around assessing the situation
before committing. And it isn't necessary to taunt the turkey cause he just
went ahead and did it. He will either die or get in big trouble and as each has
entertainment value to kids, the turkey has a certain bizarre social standing.
The most fascinating thing about all of this,
though, is the staying power of these taunts. Generations later they are still
used. Children who've never even driven by a farm use these with acumen. They
get the subtleties. They wield the taunt with wit and precision.
Or maybe it's come full circle. Maybe it's a
chicken/egg situation. Are children calling little Johnny a turkey because they
know turkeys are fools, or, do little Johnny's antics teach children
that turkeys are fools?
Our world has evolved and the family farm has
all but disappeared. Amazingly (thankfully) memories of days gone by linger on.
We owe that to children, and I tip my hat.
Enjoy your turkey without guilt or remorse. It
had a happy life. Killing that bird was a kindness, really. Something would
have gotten him.
Happy Thanksgiving!
* often gender specific
