We watched A Man for All Seasons tonight. Excellent movie about Sir Thomas More. Lots to think about. Has some scary ramifications for politics today. Has some pretty hilarious one-liners scattered throughout the show.
But one totally inconsequential thing makes me curious. Was the bird named for the priestly office because the birdies were all dressed in red like the higher-than-bishop guys? Or was the office named after the bird? I'm guessing the bird-name was based on the guys-in-red in the church hierarchy, but I don't know.
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You made me curious- so I looked.
ReplyDeleteAccording to wikipedia, the color 'cardinal' was named for the Roman's Cassocks and later came to be used to describe the bird.
Hey, thanks!
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Cardinal is a New World bird (the ones in the Southern Hemisphere and Hawaii have only a red head, but gray bodies. I LOVE THEM). So the Midwest being the home of the cardinal, and being French-Catholic settled, named the bird after the red cassock.
ReplyDeleteI love watching our cardinals. It is clear that the other birds won't mess with them, but they are rather regal. The male shows up in a nearby tree, announces his arrival with his chipping sound, and then he comes to the feeder, his mate comes, and he lets her eat while he hangs around keeping look out, and then when she is done, he eats. It's like he has manners from days long gone. Sigh.