The Kuckuck

// etymology · gowk · cuckoo · neon sign

If you call yourself Elektro Gowk, you'd better be able to explain what a Gowk is. Here: short, honest, with a bird.

[01] THE BIRD

            ,_,
           (O,O)
           ( v )
          --m-m---------
    _    _
   ( \__/ )         "kuckuck"
  ~~~~~     ~~~~~
    ^^--^^

Gowk is, first of all, a bird. Specifically the common cuckoo, Cuculus canorus. The word comes from Scots, Middle English gowke (c. 1400), going back to Old Norse gaukr — itself a phonetic echo of the call that the cuckoo belts into every forest all spring.

In Scots and in northern English the word has survived to this day: gowk simply means cuckoo.

In German it became Kuckuck — and from the call nobody ignores, to a proper name that also ignores nobody. That is how branding has worked since the Middle Ages.

[02] FLAPPY GOWK

A tiny terminal bird trapped between phosphor pipes. Hit space, click the screen, or press the flap button. No sprites, no canvas, just crunchy text and bad decisions.

high score table

score: 000

kuck-uck.

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