{"id":17631,"title":"Queer as a Coot","description":"Reflections on my drawing of the coot and the phrase that it is associated with.","content":"

\"\"Above, the drawing and gentle reference by me (Paul Harfleet). Below a detail from the original drawing in pen.<\/em>\"\"My latest drawing and gentle reference is the coot, a regular sight on our waterways. They are most commonly seen bobbing about on rivers and canals, less visible are their spectacular feet. For this study I was able to observe the coot from life, swimming on clear waters, I could see their elegant feet gently propelling them along an east London canal on a bright spring day. I sat on the ground next to a pond and studied, sketched and photographed the coot, watching as territorial squabbles broke out in a cacophony of alarm calls. I was able to gaze at another individual stood on their nest clicking as its mate approached. Their initial blackness transformed to pale greys and browns in the sun and their red eyes glinted. As my work with Birds Can Fly continues I\u2019m amazed at how each bird becomes enriched as I study, observe and research it.\"\"
Some studies from life, capturing the head of the coot as it swam across the pond I was sat by.<\/em><\/p>

Like so many birds the coot has become embedded into our language, in phrases and expressions, the coot especially has significance for me. I have a memory of my mother and her friend Mandy discussing a sighting of Marc Almond in London in the eighties. I vividly remember Mandy saying \u201coh yes, he was as queer as a coot!\u201d I flinched at the recognition of the term \u2018queer\u2019 knowing that it was how I was already being described by my school \u2018mates\u2019. I knew this was something I had to try and disguise to all, so I fell into a red faced silence until the conversation turned elsewhere. As a bird obsessed child I knew what a coot was, though until now I\u2019ve not attempted to dig into how the expression evolved. \u00a0<\/p>

\u2018Old as a coot\u2019 or \u2018old coot\u2019 refers to the white shield on the head of the bird as it vaguely resembles male pattern baldness, this expression still commonly appears. \u2018Queer as a coot\u2019 has largely faded from common usage as it\u2019s largely intended as a disparaging term. There was some recent controversy when Toby Young referred to George Clooney as \u2018queer as a coot\u2019 on Twitter<\/a>. Ornithologist, Paul Thomas <\/a>suggested that the expression \u201cqueer as a coot\u201d comes from the Chaucerian word \u2018qweere\u2019 meaning white shield, though I\u2019ve yet to confirm this. As ever such suggestions open up whole new realms of research, I\u2019d heard of the Canterbury Tales of course but had never read them. They are quite filthy, and have constant descriptions of queer behaviour though I am yet to identify the exact quote. There is a fascinating thesis here<\/a> on a queer reading of Chaucer. A more accessible article<\/a> by Dominic Green explores the history of the term \u2018queer\u2019 in a few examples below:<\/p>

\u201c...The sense of queer as unnatural is first attested in print in 1508. The original meaning (strange, odd, unusual in appearance or character, possibly sick) still pertains, albeit ironically, as in Stanley Holloway\u2019s 1959 monologue, \u201cMy word, you do look queer\u201d. In eighteenth-century slang, to feel queer was to be drunk. Demotic Londoners described odd behaviour as queer as Dick\u2019s hatband (1835). Those who went off the straight and narrow through debt, delinquency or sickness resided on Queer Street (1837). To avoid it, the Cockney salesman was wary of the rival who queered his pitch (1846). Queer as a nine-bob note still circulates, after inflation, as queer as a three-pound note. So does queer as a coot, which the slang authority Jonathon Green (link here<\/a> to his time-line of slang) attributes to Julian Maclaren-Ross, a frequenter of London pubs before, during and after the Second World War...\u201d\"\"
\"You Gay Queer!\" Planted in Bristol by Paul Harfleet in 2021 part of <\/em>The Pansy Project<\/em><\/a><\/p>

The term \u2018queer\u2019 is embedded in our culture and has been largely reclaimed as a term that refers to the entire LGBTQ+ community on our own terms. This terminology will continue to evolve as younger generations reassess the terminology of their predecessors.\u00a0 For me queer retains the frisson of political agitation, my own parents generation express discomfort at the term. Though this frisson is probably lost on a generation that rarely heard it as a term of abuse. My experience with The Pansy Project reveals my fascination in the subversion and evolution of language. I plant a pansy and name the photograph\/location after the abuse, this juxtaposition helps me reclaim the location, from one of trauma to one of healing and as an artwork over the last seventeen years has become a subtle political action.\u00a0<\/p>

THE QUEER AS A COOT TEE\u2026<\/p>

\"\"
My more recent so-called \u2018gentle references\u2019 of the birds I draw, have become a tool to encourage the viewer to look at my avian subject from a different perspective. The gentle reference of the coot may be the queerest example yet. The coot and the accompanying disparaging phrase are referenced in my look, the make-up, the leather jacket and \u2018white-shield\u2019 resembling a jock strap - and face of the coot - all playfully capture some visual tropes from queer culture. A mash-up of drag queen and leather clone.\"\"
Above, The white shield was made from the top of a wooden spoon, sanded into shape, then painted white, then white elastic attached to the bag. Below, leather gloves with sewn fingers then painted in peppermint acrylic paint.<\/em>\"\"
In celebration of this drawing I\u2019ve created a design that enables the wearer to reawaken the term and self-proclaim themselves as \u2018queer as a coot\u2019<\/u><\/a> in an all together more empowering way than described above.\u00a0\"\"Below some useful links:<\/strong><\/p>

Thesis: QUI(N)TE QUEER: ORDINARY QUEER IDENTITIES IN CHAUCER'S ORDINARY CANTERBURY TALES by Margaret Finlay<\/a><\/p>

Harvard University. Chaucer Resource<\/a><\/p>

The Timelines of Slang<\/a> by Jonathan Green<\/p>



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