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Cock and Bull Story
Cock and Bull Story
Cock and Bull Story : Phrases
Meaning:
A fabricated or highly exaggerated story intended to deceive.
Example:
I don't want to hear another Cock and Bull story about why you are late, just be here on time from now on.
Origin:
This is a corruption of a concocted and bully story. Bully is the Danish bullen, or exaggerated. Therefore, it stands to reason that a cock and bull story is a made up, exaggerated story.
Alternative: The ancient north Buckinghamshire town of Stony Stratford, now part of the new city of Milton Keynes, is famous as the place of origin of the term Cock & Bull Story recognised throughout the English-speaking world. This dates back to the late 18th/early 19th centuries, at the height of the great coaching era, when Stony Stratford (which is located on the old Roman Road of Watling Street, latterly the A5) was an important stopping-off point for mail and passenger coaches travelling between London and the North. Travellers on these coaches were regarded as a great source of current news from remote parts of the country - news which would be imparted in the town's two main inns, The Cock and The Bull. The two establishments rapidly developed a rivalry as to which could furnish the most outlandish and scurrilous travellers' tales. Hence Cock & Bull Story.Thanks to Dave Evans, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.