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A Gaggle or Skein of Geese

Posted by Woodchuck on November 26, 2002

In Reply to: Brace of geese posted by Shae on November 26, 2002

: 1. 'Your goose is cooked,' means something like 'You've had it now,' or 'The game's up.'

: 2. 'The phone is goosed,' means the phone is out of order beyond redemption.

: Does anybody know the origin of either?

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
"I'll cook your goose for you. I'll pay you out. Eric, King of Sweden, coming to a certain town with very few soldiers, the enemy, in mockery, hung out a goose for him to shoot at. Finding, however, that the king meant business, and that it would be no laughing matter for them, they sent heralds to ask him what he wanted. "To cook your goose for you," he facetiously replied. "

I've never heard "the phone is goosed." Is this unique to phones, or are other broken things said to be "goosed"? If it's just phones, I wonder if it might be comparing static to the hissing of geese?

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