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In the UK there is a popular idiomatic saying:

To pull a bird.

"Bird" is a well known Brit expression for a young woman. In the USA, I think "chick" is more popular. The above expression means to have success in fixing a date or going to bed with an attractive woman.

I'd like to know why the verb, "pull" was preferred and not catch, get, take, trap, or even grab.

And why do Americans go for "chicks" and never "birds"?

Mari-Lou A
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    "Bird" is old-fashioned AmE slang for woman, from the film noir era. I'd say around 1940s, roughly the same time that "dame" was popular. I've never heard it with "pull" though. – Kit Z. Fox Jun 16 '13 at 21:58
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    @KitFox: It goes back a *lot* further than that! OED has citations from 1400 for bird = maiden, girl (plus one from 1330 for the now-obsolete sense young man, youngster, child, son). – FumbleFingers Jun 16 '13 at 22:02
  • @KitFox I thought the AmE was "chick". You don't often hear that word in the UK used for young women. I have always linked chick as the contracted form of chicken with its male counterpart, rooster. (I am NOT saying that other word...) – Mari-Lou A Jun 16 '13 at 22:08
  • @Mari-LouA He did say it "is old-fashioned AmE slang. – TrevorD Jun 16 '13 at 23:10
  • @TrevorD yes, but The US is always light years ahead of Europe!(grin) – Mari-Lou A Jun 16 '13 at 23:17
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    @Mari-LouA A chick is, of course, only one of very many different types of bird - and a very young one at that. So maybe Americans are either very selective or very fussy! (grin back) – TrevorD Jun 16 '13 at 23:35
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    I'm aware of "pulling for birds/blokes" from my British friends but the AmE equivalent used in my time (late 1970's - early 1980's) was "picking up chicks or guys/dudes". Of course picking up a chick or dude was no gaurantee that the the picker-upper would "score" (result in sexual conquest). ;-) – Kristina Lopez Jun 17 '13 at 00:07
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    Then there's the American (and Australian?) "to flip the bird," meaning to thrust one's middle finger into the air in a gesture of contempt or aggression (the nonverbal equivalent to the locution "F**** you!") Personally, I don't see the similarity between human phalanges and any bird I'm familiar with, but perhaps we're not talking about a resemblance but about something else entirely, and I will not go there! – rhetorician Jun 17 '13 at 00:19
  • @rhetorician, yeah! Why do we pick on birds? And how is holding up your middle finger considered "flipping"? Inquiring minds want to know! – Kristina Lopez Jun 17 '13 at 01:15
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    @Fumble The US wasn't around in the 1400s though. – Kit Z. Fox Jun 17 '13 at 11:42
  • @KitFox: But the US was largely populated by Brits who'd apparently already been using the word in this general area for centuries. I don't know the details of when and where "birds" became standard "street slang" for *unattached young women", but my feeling is it's more of a post-WW1 London usage than American slang as such. Perhaps US soldiers picked it up from us during WW2. – FumbleFingers Jun 17 '13 at 20:21
  • @ Mari-Lou: Regarding US "chicks" - the standard UK version from long before (particularly in Northern England), was (and still is) chuck. These days it's more a general term of endearment for both sexes including children, but it's been around a lot longer than perhaps many people think. Shakespeare has Sweete chucks beat not the bones of the buried in Love's Labours Lost. – FumbleFingers Jun 17 '13 at 20:29
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    For the american slang, why chick? What's so special about chickens? I'm going to invent new slang that is less species-centric. Perhaps Gosling (baby goose), cygnet (baby swan), or owlet (baby owl). "I picked up a gosling today"; "I hear all the hot cygnets are going to this party"; "they're a cool group of owlets". – Ben Lee Jun 21 '13 at 22:40
  • +3 They're all great! – Mari-Lou A Jun 21 '13 at 22:44

1 Answers1

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I think it's probably just because in British slang pull has that meaning independently of bird. From OED...

pull: trans. 12a: Brit. slang. To pick up (a partner), esp. for sexual intercourse; to seduce. Also intr.

It also occurs as a noun in the expression on the pull, and there's no reason why a couple of young British men shouldn't hope to pull some girls on a night out. Come to that, the girls they end up with may have gone out hoping to pull some blokes.

As to why young British women are called birds, OED says it derives in part from a now-obsolete

burd: a poetic word for ‘woman, lady’; the female counterpart of berne n.;
in later use chiefly = ‘young lady, maiden’.
berne: a warrior, a hero, a man of valour;
in later use, simply one of the many poetic words for ‘man’.

Of chick, OED says applied to human offspring; = chicken n.; esp. in alliteration with child. Sometimes as a term of endearment, with citations starting from 1320. But their earliest citation for the current (well, hopelessly "dated", imho) sense girl; young woman. slang (orig. US) is 1927.

FumbleFingers
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  • nor did I until I thought to look and see if OED had anything more than the "obvious" reason why "bird" might be used for "young woman". I was also surprised to find this little snippet under the entry for bird - A young man, youngster, child, son. Obs.* (In later times only fig.: cf. chick, chicken.)* – FumbleFingers Jun 16 '13 at 21:57
  • So were "birds" called something else back then? Fascinating. – Mari-Lou A Jun 16 '13 at 22:01
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    @Mari-Lou: Almost certainly they were, because OED says that originally (back in 800) it was The general name for the young* of the feathered tribes; a young bird; a chicken, eaglet, etc.; a nestling. The only sense in Old English; found in literature down to 1600; still retained in north. dial. as ‘a hen and her birds’.* – FumbleFingers Jun 16 '13 at 22:05
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    I found this: "Bride is from the OE bryd, which is well attested, especially in poetry.

    Burd appears in early Middle English alliterative poetry... It could come from either of the two Old English words. It has also been suggested, that the Danish cognate brud, “bride,” may be the origin rather than the Anglo-Saxon. Alternatively, it could come from the Old English noun byrd, “birth, lineage” and its adjective byrde, “well-born,” suggesting a well-born lady."

     – Mari-Lou A Jun 16 '13 at 22:28
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    Burd Ellen was the sister of Childe Rowland (who was not invented by Browning): http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-24.html . But I never knew the origin till now. – Tim Lymington Jun 16 '13 at 22:39
  • I don't think chick "woman" is necessarily dated, though its range of use has certainly changed. – ruakh Jun 17 '13 at 02:47
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    Pull is independent from bird, but often found together. Of the OED's four quotations, they're together in the earliest two (1965 and 1973). – Hugo Jun 17 '13 at 04:45
  • OED also notes confusion for bird: d. A maiden, a girl. [In this sense bird was confused with burde , burd n., originally a distinct word, perhaps also with bryd(e bride n.1; but later writers understand it as fig. sense of 1 or 2.] In mod. (revived) use: a girl, woman (often used familiarly or disparagingly) (slang). – Hugo Jun 17 '13 at 04:49
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    And of burd: Burd has been variously identified with bird n., and with bride n.1 Although its later spelling is identical with the modern Scots form of bird, and it has been sometimes treated as merely a fig. use of this word, the earlier forms of both show them to be quite distinct. The identification with bride has somewhat more plausibility; but even if we take as the basis the Danish brud instead of the Old English brýd, the phonetic difficulties are many and serious. – Hugo Jun 17 '13 at 04:53
  • Well done, @FumbleFingers, no one else has dared to offer an alternative answer so far. I thought it was bloody difficult myself (could not find a thing on the net), you are indeed a scholar. Take a bow! – Mari-Lou A Jun 17 '13 at 18:27
  • Dang. I was hoping it had something to do with skeet shooting. :-) – T.E.D. Jun 17 '13 at 19:45
  • @Mari-Lou: I have the advantage that my local library provides me with free online access to OED from my own computer (which I would be very hard-pressed to afford if I had to buy it myself). I learnt several things myself from this one. I knew bird/brid were "cognates", but I didn't know there were effectively multiple origins, and I'd no idea bride was related, or that chick was "supported" by child, for example. – FumbleFingers Jun 17 '13 at 20:10