Polly want a cracker

During my spare time, surfing the internet in order to read new posts on blogs held by friends, I was interested in Yseult’s article A crisis of consciousness (still haven’t found the time to post a comment… I just hope to find the strength to do it). I tried to remember what I learned about mind and brain and their whereabouts… and questions like « is language only a function of an organ, or something more », etc.

And I thought about Jerry Alan Fodor, who is a cognitive scientist currently working at the Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. I wont say much here about him, my point is elsewhere: I happen to remember an article he wrote in February 2004 in Mind & Language, volume 19, named « Having Concepts: a Brief Refutation of the Twentieth Century ». In this article, he wrote: « But this parrot too is pretty certainly dead ». Now I can hear you: what is he saying? quoting Jerry Fodor about a parrot? he certainly is a looney (me, not JF… although…)! We all know that JF likes jokes, but what is the point here? I’ll say: the point is, JF is making a reference to the Monty Python’s N°1 sketch: the pet shop sketch (aka Dead parrot sketch; for those who don’t know what I’m talking about, see here).

And this reminded me of another quote of the same sketch: Mr Praline (played by John Cleese), complaining to the Shopkeeper (played by Michael Palin) about a dead parrot he sold to him just 30 minutes ago: « P I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it. It’s dead, that’s what’s wrong with it. S No, no it’s resting, look! (…) P All right then, if it’s resting I’ll wake it up. (shouts into cage) Hello Polly! I’ve got a nice cuttlefish for you when you wake up, Polly Parrot! »

Now to the point: the name Polly for a parrot is well known in England (who never heard the famous: Polly want a cracker, or Polly wanna cracker, …), but where does it come from? I’m not sure, but I think I just found where: the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub located in London, Wine Office Court, 145 Fleet Street (more informations on this pub there and there). So it seem that a famous parrot named Polly lived there from 1876 to 1916; it won his fame by it’s capability to utter insults in many languages, and by the fact that at the celebrations to mark victory at the end of the Great War this wonderful bird manically imitated the popping of – it is said – more than 300 champagne corks before falling dead. Its death was announced on the BBC and it is also said that obituaries appeared in newspapers all over the world. Nice! So, if you’re going to stay in London, don’t forget to visit the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub, to pay homage to this parrot, so famous that his name is used for the whole species! Cheers!