What is the origin of the phrase “cock and bull story”?
A cock and bull story is a false account or tall tale – from old English ‘a concocted and bully story’; ‘concocted’ was commonly shortened to ‘cock’, and ‘bully’ meant ‘exaggerated’ (leading to bull-rush and bull-frog; probably from ‘bullen’, Danish for exaggerated); also the old London Road at Stony Stratford near Northampton, England has two old inns next to each other, called The Cock and The Bull; travellers’ stories were said to have been picked up on the way at the Cock and Bull. Another source is the mythological fables of Nergal and Osiris; ‘Nergal’ the ancient Persian idol means ‘dung-hill cock; ‘Osiris’ was an Egyptian Bull.
