Almost Clever

Observations about life and stories that border on being funny and/or inspired.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Cucking Stool

As I was looking up the etymology for the word "stool" I discovered something even more awesome. In England, there used to be a device called the cucking stool:
The cucking-stool or Stool of Repentance, is of very ancient date, and was used by the Saxons, who called it the scealding or scolding stool. It is mentioned in Domesday Book as in use at Chester, being called cathedra stercoris, a name which seems to confirm the first of the derivations suggested in the footnote below. Tied to this stool the woman, her head and feet bare, was publicly exposed at her door or paraded through the streets amidst the jeers of the crowd.

The term cucking-stool is known to have been in use from about 1215. It means literally "defecation chair", as its name is derived from the old verb cukken which means "to defecate", rather than, as popularly believed, from the word cuckold. Commodes or chamber pots were often used as cucking-stools, hence the name.

The cucking-stool could be used for both sexes - indeed, unruly married couples were occasionally bound back-to-back and ducked (dunked). The device was most commonly used for the punishment of dishonest brewers and bakers.


How awesome is the phrase "cucking stool?" So sweet. Anyways, I propose to redefine the meaning of the phrase a bit. Instead of a noun, it will now be a verbal phrase with a meaning similar to BS.
Ex."Boy that last paper I wrote was so bad. I was cucking stool all over the place."
"No way did the Bears beat the Cardinals. You're cucking some serious stool."

I will definitely use this phrase ad infinitum.

Now a somewhat off topic joke.
One English pub owner asked another more successful pub owner:
"Why does your pub get so much business?"
The other pub owner replied:
"It's my bloody stools. The customers just love sitting on my bloody stools."

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