"Hamburg rooster": the meaning and history of the phrase

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

"Hamburg cock" - this expression is familiar to many, but not everyone knows what it means and how it got into our everyday life. There are many versions of the appearance of this popular expression, but we will consider the most popular ones.

The film that gave us the catchphrase

Indeed, the expression "Hamburg rooster" appeared on the lips of many citizens of the former Soviet Union after the release of the famous comedy film "Gentlemen of Fortune". The hero of this film (masterfully played by Yevgeny Leonov), once behind bars, tries to use prison jargon and threatens his cellmates with a phrase that sounds like this: “Sausage! Sausage! Nubuchadnezzar! Hamburg rooster!”

It is in this jargon, according to the creators of the comedy film, that thieves and inveterate repeat offenders should talk to each other. Among the phrases of the film, which became winged, not all were deciphered. If "radish" in the thieves' jargon of movie criminals means "bad person", then the phrase "Hamburg cock" remained without decoding.

It is a fact that many people believed that such a sonorous expression was a fantasy of the creators of the movie "Gentlemen of Fortune". However, this is not at all the case. The director of the film Alexander Sery himself claimed that when creating the film, the scriptwriters used the prison slang known at that time.

What does this expression mean?

On the one hand, there seems to be nothing intricate in the phrase "Hamburg rooster". Everything is clear - this is a breed of roosters. And such a breed really exists. But more on that later, first let's look at the meaning of this expression.

If we open the Dictionary of Russian Argo, we will see a very clear designation of this phrase - "a dude, a fashionable person who takes care of his appearance, but is also conceited".

In the "Big Dictionary of Russian Proverbs" the phrase means "an agile, nimble guy".

Religious meaning of the phrase

There is another version of the meaning of this catchphrase. This expression is used in Judaism, the expression is known only to a few initiates.

In Judaism, this bird was considered as kosher (suitable from the point of view of religious canons) food. An ancient legend says that it was Hamburg that was the place where the dispute broke out around the notorious rooster. It was like this: one of the birds during the cutting turned out to be without a heart. This was an egregious case, so 2 rabbis began to argue about whether a bird without a heart can be considered kosher. After all, the rabbi who butchered the bird claimed that the heart was at the very beginning, it just got lost somewhere during the butchering of the rooster.

This controversy has received so much publicity that many have joinedknowledgeable professionals. Physiologists argued that cases were recorded in nature when birds lived without such an important organ as the heart. His role was simply played by other organs. This version put an end to the dispute, the rooster was recognized as fit for food, and the incident itself became known to the whole world. Now the phrase "Hamburg rooster" simply denotes a controversial situation. Only over time did they begin to call people boasting of their appearance.

What are the features of the Hamburg breed roosters?

Hamburg roosters have been known since ancient times, they have established themselves on the world market as the most productive breed. The appearance of the bird is very beautiful, attracting attention. They come in different colors: golden, white, black, blue, black, motley and spotted. Probably, the appearance of these chickens played a significant role in the fact that dudes - people who show off their appearance - began to be called Hamburg roosters.

This breed of chickens was named so because it was bred by the Hamburg burgomaster Carl Friedrich Petersen. Thanks to many years of experience in crossing different breeds of chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys, a cold-resistant, unpretentious breed with very tender and tasty meat has appeared. Hamburg chickens are not only very beautiful, but also quite useful and productive. In contrast to the negative meaning of the expression "Hamburg cock", the hens themselves have a fairly good reputation among birds of this kind.

"Hamburg rooster": the meaning of the phrase in the modern world

Whatever it was, butnow this phrase is more used in prison slang and has a very unpleasant meaning. In prison slang, "Hamburg cock" is an expression for a man who has been raped. Perhaps by coincidence, the German city of Hamburg is now reputed to be the capital of gay men.

Apart from prison jargon, this phrase means a fashionista, a smart-ass and overestimating young man.

We can only speculate: "Why did such a well-established breed of chicken become a symbol of pomposity and arrogance?" Perhaps due to the fact that many people who boast of their appearance are considered heartless handsome? Or maybe because the magnificent plumage of a bird in some way parodies the outlandish outfits of some young people?