Cootchum cootchum coo

Question

Hello,I am just readiny a book by Peter Carey. One of the characters - a printer's devil named Parrot is running across the stubbled fields while the beery harvesters call him to them "cootchum cootchum coo". I have no idea what these words could mean. Is it an idiom? The plot takes place in Ditsum (Devon) in the 18th century.Thanks for your answers.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I am just readiny a book by Peter Carey. One of the characters - a printer's devil named Parrot is running across the stubbled fields while the beery harvesters call him to them "cootchum cootchum coo". I have no idea what these words could mean. Is it an idiom? The plot takes place in Ditsum (Devon) in the 18th century.

I've never heard this. Perhaps it is some obscure and archaic piece of Devon dialect.

It sounds like 'cootchie coootchie coo', which is sometimes said when tickling someone.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cootchie-cootchie-coo

There's also a sexual aspect to the word 'cootchie', just as there can sometimes be to the act of tickling.

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=461480
The few words you have written about it do suggest some possible sexual aspect in the scene in the fields.

Clive

Khoff · Answer

"Cootchy cootchy coo" is something that you might say while tickling a baby.  I've never heard anything like it in any other context.

Cootchum cootchum coo

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