Cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. The chicks are huge and
crowd out the legitimate birds and grab all the food. The mother apparently
doesn't realize it's not hers. Not so learned, but that's my understanding of
the expression.
Jane
Look, sorry, I was joking: I didn't seriously mean to ask for learned
disquisitions about the cuckoo in the nest or the viper in the bosom. For
what it's worth, I believe JaneGC is quite right about the cuckoo, and I
see from the Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs that the viper in the
bosom
At 21:37 98/05/14 EDT, you wrote:
Learned? I can't vouch for this adjective being applicable to my response;
but of the cuckoo, I believe she means sexual betrayal: to be cuckholded, to
find someone else in your bed with your lover.
As for the viper in the busom, I think this is easily
Simon Cauchi wrote:
Well, here's one example of how the phrase is currently understood:
Who has not known the fear of trust betrayed, when a cuckoo is
uncovered
in the nest, a viper in the bosom, a snake in the grass? (Louise
Guinness,
reviewing Sophia Watson's novel The Perfect Treasure
And don't forget Clytemnestra's dream of nursing a snake that then
bit her in Aeschylus' _Libation Bearers_. Her son Orestes fulfilled
the dream by killing her.
--- Forwarded Message Follows ---
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 07:57:26 -0400 (EDT)
To:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
From:
