Stony is probably most famous for being the original source of the well known English catchphrase "a Cock and Bull Story", which began when tales were exchanged between drunken punters of the 2 hotels, The Cock and The Bull are both in the High Street and are just 20 yards from each other.
Well, so says the blog at The Garden of Earthly Delights. Unfortunately, no sooner do you come across a fascinating local factoid than some killjoy blows it out of the water:
It is an appealing story but, regrettably, it is little more than that. There's no evidence whatsoever to connect the two inns with the phrase, apart from the coincidence of the two names.
Whisper it not in Stony Stratford if you want to get out alive, but it's more likely that the phrase comes from old folk tales that featured magical animals. The early 17th century French term 'coq-a-l'âne' was glossed in Randle Cotgrave's A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, 1611 as meaning:An incoherent story, passing from one subject to another.
Bang goes another interesting piece local "knowledge" I was about to bore people senseless with...
0 comments:
Post a Comment