Oddly (in view of its combining two very natural metaphors), the use of "cock" for penis is fairly recent as such things go. The OED has one quot. from 1618, but it seems not to have become widespread until the 19th century. Applied to a man, it seems never to have been an insult like "prick", but a compliment, in allusion to a cock's fighting spirit. (Such surnames as Cox, Babcock, & Wilcox are derived from nicknames incorporating that usage.)

--- Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net

||: Beside myself is too close for comfort. :||