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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest..

Posted by ESC on August 10, 2005

In Reply to: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest.. posted by Munira on August 10, 2005

: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest..

: Whats the meaning of this phrase?

It is the title of a book by Ken Kesey and a movie based on the book. "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" is my favorite movie so I should know the answer, but I don't. The book is set in a mental hospital. That probably explains the "cuckoo" and it is about escaping from there literally and figuratively.

Spark Notes has a summary, etc. I took a quick look and didn't find anything about the title. www.sparknotes.com/ film/cuckoo/

But I did find this on another site www.epinions.com/ content_14526418564:

The title "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" refers to a shock therapy-induced recollection of a childhood game the Chief (an patient) played with his grandmother. The game centered around a quixotic chant whose elements represent OFOTCN's 3 main characters, and their respective conflicts and polarities. The lyrics are as follows:

"Tingle, Tingle, Tangle Toes
She's a good fisherman
Catches hens, puts'em inna pens
Wier blier, limber lock
Three geese inna flock
One flew east, One flew west,
One flew over the cuckoo's nest
O-U-T spells out
Goose swoops down and plucks you out.

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