| Subject | : | Why a Chicken? |
| Author | : | Patrick Weiler |
| Date | : | 09-10-2000 on 01:13 p.m. |
| jpweil00@gte.net Steve, One reason for the inclusion of chickens on rugs may be related to the story about president Truman and his wife. When visiting a county fair, his wife stopped in at the poultry barn. A farmer explained that his prize rooster had sex 40 times a day. She asked the farmer to relay this piece of information to the president when he stopped by. When the president stopped by, the farmer told him that Mrs. Truman wanted the president to know that the prize rooster had sex 40 times a day. The president asked the farmer, "Same hen each time?" The farmer replied, "No, different hen each time." The president asked the farmer to tell this to the first lady when she came by again. (This is not a comment on current presidential politics) Of course, fighting roosters have been popular since time immemorial. There is an article on Cloudband by Tom Cole showing his travels to Afghanistan which includes a segment about cock fighting. Are there depictions on rugs showing cock fights, or are there just The Birds? Patrick Weiler |
| Subject | : | RE:Why a Chicken? |
| Author | : | Patrick+Weiler |
| Date | : | 09-10-2000 on 01:27 p.m. |
| /jpweil00@gte.net Correction: The article by Tom Cole shows dog fights, not cock fights. Nonetheless, fighting roosters have been admired in many cultures for many years. Patrick Weiler |
| Subject | : | RE:Why a Chicken? |
| Author | : | Steve Price |
| Date | : | 09-10-2000 on 02:07 p.m. |
| sprice@hsc.vcu.edu Dear Patrick, I don't recall seeing any rugs with cockfights depicted, but people turn up all sorts of things whenever we claim that there's no such thing as.... Jerry's recent Salon about images of sheep on rugs is a good example of that. Your Truman story is similar to one that was told to me many years ago by an experimental psychologist, except that the president in his story was Calvin Coolidge. He was explaining to me why a peculiar phenomenon is called the "Coolidge Effect". What it amounts to, essentially, is this: If you place a male rat into a cage with a female in estrus, they will copulate until the male appears to collapse from exhaustion. If, at that point, you replace the female with another one, he recovers immediately and copulates with this one until he is apparently exhausted. If you then replace this female with yet another,.... Well, you get the idea. And that's the end of the discussion of the Coolidge Effect (and closely related topics) on our rug boards. Steve Price |