What a Cock

To most scholars and people over the age of 25, the word “cock” conjures the image of a rooster. To most college kids, the same “cock” elicits a giggle and the image of the male reproductive organ. According to the Oxford English Dictionary and the Urban Dictionary, both definitions, penis and rooster, are correct. Each dictionary also has several other definitions. Most of the definitions in the Urban Dictionary are related to the male reproductive organ and those definitions are very graphic. The definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary are much more diverse. Some examples of the definition of “cock” from the Oxford English Dictionary are: a night watchman, a leader or chief, something that stops the flow of liquid, a part of the mechanism for discharging a firearm, to fight, and to bend up or stick up at an angle. While neither dictionary contains definitions that are wrong, the dictionary that is most accurate, in terms of quality and depth of information, is the Oxford English Dictionary because it has actually been reviewed and worked on by educated people. The reason I feel that the Urban Dictionary is less dependable is that the definitions have been submitted by many people and most of the definitions are repeated with just some words different therefore when you read it, you can get caught up in reading the same thing over and over again. The authority for the Oxford English dictionary is a Chief Editor, which means that it is a prescriptive authority because it is written and reviewed. The authority for the Urban Dictionary is anyone who gets on the website and decides to give a definition for a word. Since there seems to be no editor, I would say that the Urban Dictionary is a descriptive authority because it does not really give any importance to the use of the words in written form.