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In reply to Perry Lentine’s query (53518) as to the meaning of the term
“Drongo”, I would acknowledge the helpful contributions from Paul Chivers
(53521) and the always informative Dimitris, Pass the Rosetta Stone,
Tsokakis (53527) in the “AmiBroker or Metastock ?” thread.
I feel however that the waters have been somewhat muddied by the plethora
of information supplied so it is my intention, indeed my duty, as the
original user of the term (53511), to clarify the situation.
It is my contention that Drongo, in the sense that I used it, is an
Australia slang term used to describe a 'fool', a 'stupid person', a
'simpleton'.
Yes there is indeed a bird called a Drongo as confirmed by Paul and
Dimitris.
A short explananation would, and indeed does, state that the Spangled
Drongo is found in northern and eastern Australia, as well as in the
islands to the north of Australia, and further north to India and China.
It is called a Drongo because that is the name of a bird from the same
family in northern Madagascar.
It has been suggested that the origin of the association, by Austalians,
of 'stupidity' with the term Drongo, comes from the fact that the bird
appears to migrate to colder regions in winter. I am unable to verify
this 'origin of association' and who really cares about the migratory
habits of the aforesaid bird. Stuff it I say.
Before attempting to proffer the generally held Antipodean theory
regarding the "Drongo-Stupidity" association I would offer the following
fieldwork report for your perusal.
In eavesdropping on Australians in conversational mode I have not, as
yet, heard the expression,
"YOU SPANGLED DRONGO!" ........used.
Almost without exception the prefered expression is,
"YOU BLOODY DRONGO!".
This expression is delivered in either of two ways;
1. In an agitated manner in a high volume and pitch and often accompanied
by the agitated waving of hands and threats of violence.
My belief is that this delivery signifies anger.
2. In an exasperated manner in a low volume and pitch and accompanied by
the slow shaking of the head from side to side.
My belief is that this delivery signifies frustration.
Now, my further research, of a more clinical nature, finds thats there
was an Australian racehorse named Drongo (presumably after the aforesaid
bird), racing during the early 1920s.
He was a bay horse by Lanius-Lys d'Or, and, according to the Australasian
Turf Register, he had 5 starts in 923, 15 starts in 1924, and 17 starts
in 1925.
In 1924 a writer in the Melbourne Argus comments:
"Drongo is sure to be a very hard horse to beat. He is improving with
every run".
In all, Drongo competed in 37 races.
He never did win.
Soon after the horse's retirement it seems that racegoers started to
apply the term to horses that were having similarly unlucky careers. It
appears that the term gradually became more negative, perhaps helped by
Cartoonist Sammy Wells, then of the Melbourne “Herald”, who apparently
adopted Drongo as a character in his political and sporting cartoons. In
these cartoons Drongo was the no-hoper in any and every situation. and
was applied also to people who were not so much 'unlucky' as 'hopeless
cases' , 'no-hopers', and thereafter 'fools'.
I would also note reports that in the 1940s it was applied to recruits in
the Royal Australian Air Force, but the Aussies will only get mad at us
if we spread that kind of inuendo so we better shut up about it. Forget
that you read this paragraph.
Buzz Kennedy, writing in "The Australian" newspaper in 1977, defines a
drongo thus:
"A drongo is a simpleton but a complicated one: he is a simpleton of the
sort who not only falls over his feet but does so at Government House;
who asks his future mother-in-law to pass "the-magic-word" salt the first
time the girl asks him home.... In an emergency he runs heroically in the
wrong direction. If he were Superman he would get locked in the telephone
box. He never wins. So he is a drongo".
The origin of the term was revived at the Melbourne racecourse Flemington
in 1977 when a Drongo Handicap was held. Only apprentice jockeys were
allowed to ride. The horses entered were not allowed to have won a race
in the previous twelve months.
I DON’T WANT TO LET THE TRUTH GET IN THE WAY OF A GOOD STORY BUT,
As it happens he wasn't an absolute no-hoper of a racehorse.
He ran second in a VRC Derby and St Leger, third in the AJC St Leger, and
fifth in the 1924 Sydney Cup.
He often came very close to winning major races.
But he never won a race.
I guess there's a moral here somewhere?
If you find it let me know,
Regds Gerard
Ps. I’m not an Aussie. I just live here.
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