COCKALORUM

[Dr. Goodword]

• cockalorum •

Pronunciation: kah-kê-lor-êm • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A little man with an extraordinarily high opinion of himself, who 'crows' about himself a lot. 2. The 'crowing' of a cockalorum, cockamamie boasting, false self-praise.

Notes: Now, everyone will tell you that the plural of today's Good Word is cockalorums. However, since the word itself is a joke, why not push it to the limits and call a bunch of cocky twerps cockalora? The reference also seems to be to bantam roosters, for the sense of this word is usually restricted to small men.

In Play: We don't like to encourage the use of pejorative terms but we find words this funny hard to resist: "That little cockalorum loves to crow about all the actors he met growing up in Beverly Hills." I suppose some people earn the pejorative epithets they acquire: "The little cockalorum is in the boss's office now giving himself credit for all the changes we made around here over his interference."

Word History: Today's humorous word obviously shares a source with cocky, referring to someone who prances around as full of himself like a rooster. It has been suggested (without evidence) that this word was built upon the base of an obsolete Flemish verb, kockeloeren "to crow". It might just as well have been the result of monkeying around with cock-a-doodle-doo and the Latin genitive plural ending, -orum. Even here, however, the only thing we are sure of is the influence of the Latin ending. The sentiment is related to the old French saying: Le coq est roi sur son fumier "The rooster is king on his dunghill".

[gailr]

Wait...I've met this guy!
Although he's using a different name these days...

[Bailey]

Great word, Ah cockalorum where were you when I needed you? In factI've known several tall men like this.

mB