557: partridge Jun 17, 2016

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"On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a peartree". Partridges as game-birds, not really the type to offend anyone. Nonetheless, 'partridge' comes from the Old French 'pertis', through Latin ultimately coming from the Greek 'perdix' from a verb 'meaning 'to fart'. The reason for this is that people thought that the sound of a partridge flapping its wings sounded like a fart.

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