On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:33:26 -0700, Robert Klute >
wrote:

>On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 18:40:23 -0400, ishmale > wrote:
>
>> A hen is not a cock.
>>
>>
>>
>>(must be a city man...)
>Who me or Francis Grose?
>>
>>
>>
>>Robert Klute wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose (1731-1791)
>>> First published in 1785, reprinted in 1811. This is from the 1811
>>> edition (courtesy of Project Gutenberg)
>>>
>>> SPATCH COCK. [Abbreviation of DISPATCH COCK.] A hen just
>>> killed from the roost, or yard, and immediately skinned,
>>> split, and broiled: an Irish dish upon any sudden occasion.

The Oxford English Dictionary does not agree with the assertion that a
hen is not a cock: "The word hens is also used in some connexions as =
'domestic fowls' without regard to sex."