proverb · Words worth keeping
The cock crows and the hen goes.
The cock crows and the hen goes.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying places a cock’s crow before a hen’s movement. It gives a voice and a following action different roles without supplying a wider setting.
Example
A group distinguishes who announces a task from who performs it without assigning those roles by gender.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
Crows and goes make the sequence concise. A qualified human analogy may concern one person announcing and another carrying something out, but the text does not establish that as its original intention. If used to impose a gender hierarchy, the comparison needs criticism. Its literal animal description also provides no evidence for a universal behavioural rule.
When to use it
Use it as a qualified analogy about announcement and action.
Keep in mind
The source does not establish natural authority, a gender rule or verified animal behaviour.
An interpretation of the words, not a claim about their earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Date unknown
- Culture
- English