Key:A Menu Lost in Translation: Difference between revisions

  }}, illustration</ref> it was never known to be put on heaps of boiled buckwheat.  

Back to square one then. A better explanation would be that the "cocks sauce" in the menu was a result of mistranslation. The English word "cocks" has multiple meanings and so do the Polish terms ''"kury"'' and ''"kurki"'' (pronounced: {{pron|koo|Rih}}, {{pron|kooR|kee}}). The primary meaning of "cocks" is "male domestic fowl", also known as "cockerels" or "roosters". In modern Polish, ''"kury"'' refers to hens, but a few centuries ago it meant "roosters" instead. So was the sauce made from the meat of cockerels? Well, no.

<nomobile>[[File:Kurki.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Kurki:'' which could they mean?]]</nomobile>

Among the many different meanings of the English "cock", the vulgar term for the male member is particularly well known. The rooster has been a symbol of male virility in many cultures. Among Slavic languages, Bulgarian makes the same association, with ''"kur"'' referring to both the cocky bird and a man's cock (''"patka"'' – literally, "duck" – is another vulgar Bulgarian word for the latter, which makes Bulgarians laugh every time they hear ''"kuropatka"'' – which means "partridge" in Russian and "cock-dick" in Bulgarian; gotta love these Slavic false friends). ''"Kur"'' also gave rise to the vulgar word for a prostitute (a woman whose job involves handling penes) in all Slavic languages, including Polish. But I digress; the sauce definitely wasn't made from phalli!