Why “cockalane” is a great word
COCKALANE — [Noun] A rambling, incoherent story or satirical lampoon that jumps disjointedly from one subject to another. From French coq-à-l'âne, literally 'cock to the donkey', first attested in English in the late 16th century. Unlike a lampoon, which sharpens into a specific, personal attack, or a cock-and-bull story, which crafts an elaborate falsehood, a cockalane is defined by its chaotic, digressive gait. It is the desperate monologue of a fevered patient, the political speech that veers from tax policy to poultry, or the satirical pamphlet whose venom is lost in a maze of digressions—the verbal evidence that the mind, when pressed, chooses frantic motion over coherent direction.