Chicken : nm Un chicken is the little one of the hen, from three to ten months, male or female.
In the old days, a chicken was a sweet letter or bill.
My (small) chicken : affectionate term.
Lean as a chicken bone: lean.
Hospice chicken: skinny man.
Policeman, cop (so called because he cannot fly).
Word used in all circles, including the police when they refer to themselves. The origin of the nickname 'chickens' dates back to the 1871th century and gives an almost patrimonial aspect, affectionate to the appellation. In 1832, Jules Ferry (1893-XNUMX) installed the prefecture and the Paris police in the premises of the Cité barracks, built on the former poultry market in the capital. Quickly, the nickname of chickens is given to the police. We also say 'poulaga', 'poulard', even 'partridge'
The term would also come from the fact that the police peck information on the right and left.
By extension, the poulague or the poulaga house
Grand Poulet: Prefect of Police.
Superpoulet: policeman, inspector, private policeman (police informer).
Grain-fed chicken: young policeman.
Chicken cage: closed car for transporting prisoners, cell car.
A beautiful chicken: a beautiful athlete (sports jargon).
Chicken of the hedge: child born out of wedlock, bastard.
Grain-fed chicken: young boy.
(And) is my ass chicken? : expression of refusal.
Being cold chicken: said of an addict who is in need.
A whole chicken: a kilo of cocaine (the language of drug traffickers).
The expression “Write/send a chicken (to someone)”: Write/send a love note (to someone).
Since the middle of the XNUMXth century, chicken ( poullaict, at the time) first had the figurative meaning of “missive” or “letter” before specializing in “billet douce” or “billet galant”.
There are at least two explanations for this bizarre naming.
According to some, those who were in charge of delivering the sweet note to the addressee carried chickens under the pretext of selling them, but hiding the famous note under the wing of one of them.
By metonymy, the banknote would have become the chicken itself.
But for Furetière (*), we named these banknotes because, by folding them, we made two points which represented the wings of a chicken.
If Furetière's explanation (*) were confirmed, the chicken letter would therefore imply "letter (folded) in chicken".
(*) Antoine Furetière, born December 28, 1619 in Paris and died March 14, 1688 in the same city, is a man of the Church, poet, fabulist, novelist and French lexicographer.
Quote from the French writer Louis-Ferdinand Destouches, known as Céline (1894-1961): “The English chicken is lazy, first against all odds with or without war. Do not complicate his life … otherwise it is the supreme cowrie. In the novel Guignol's band. (1952)