12 Days - the 4th day of Christmas
Air a' cheathramh là den Nollaig, chuir m' eudail thugam fhìn
ceithir cuthagan, trì cearcan-fraoich, dà chalman
agus smeòrach le ceileireadh binn.
On the fourth day of Christmas my sweetheart gave to me
four cuckoos, three ruffled grouse, two white doves and a song thrush sweetly singing.
The word cuthag means cuckoo (name derives from the call, as in English) but it can also refer to the snipe. Apparently there really is such a bird, just not here in America. It was a very difficult bird to track or to shoot and, in fact, only the most skillful shot could bring one down on wing due to its erratic flight patterns. Hence the term "sniper".
When I was young, one of the 'jokes' played on new campers by the experienced was "going on a snipe hunt". Basically, it was a hike wherein the elder would lose the younger in the woods. Not fun for the jokee. The Gaels have the same term cuir air ruith na cuthaige, literally - "to send chasing the cuckoo/snipe", but it's used to describe an April Fool's Day prank. The dictionary says it means "send on a fool's errand".
These days, when I go looking for "missing" projectors or tvs for the high school library, I refer to it as a snipe hunt - because missing equipment can be just as elusive and hard to collect as the snipe.
ceithir cuthagan, trì cearcan-fraoich, dà chalman
agus smeòrach le ceileireadh binn.
Click to viewOn the fourth day of Christmas my sweetheart gave to me
four cuckoos, three ruffled grouse, two white doves and a song thrush sweetly singing.
The word cuthag means cuckoo (name derives from the call, as in English) but it can also refer to the snipe. Apparently there really is such a bird, just not here in America. It was a very difficult bird to track or to shoot and, in fact, only the most skillful shot could bring one down on wing due to its erratic flight patterns. Hence the term "sniper".
When I was young, one of the 'jokes' played on new campers by the experienced was "going on a snipe hunt". Basically, it was a hike wherein the elder would lose the younger in the woods. Not fun for the jokee. The Gaels have the same term cuir air ruith na cuthaige, literally - "to send chasing the cuckoo/snipe", but it's used to describe an April Fool's Day prank. The dictionary says it means "send on a fool's errand".
These days, when I go looking for "missing" projectors or tvs for the high school library, I refer to it as a snipe hunt - because missing equipment can be just as elusive and hard to collect as the snipe.