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Lyran99 t1_j6fhmcg wrote

“Cloud cuckoo land” is not a phrase

−11

Visionbuilder t1_j6fim5d wrote

62 years, never once heard those words in that order…

19

1984happens t1_j6fje5t wrote

"ΝΕΦΕΛΟΚΟΚΚΥΓΙΑ" "ΝΕΦΕΛΟ("cloud")ΚΟΚΚΥΓ("cuckoo")ΙΑ(usual suffix for countries)"

19

Euripidaristophanist t1_j6fk6lo wrote

I'm a 40-year old man whose never set foot in an English-speaking country, and even I've heard of this expression.
I don't know if these complainers who say they've never heard of it, either live under a rock, or don't read a lot.

One of them even calls this post stupid, which is a weirdly aggressive way of turning ignorance into hostility.

9

scotty-doesnt_know t1_j6fluxs wrote

a lot of the nuance of the society is lost if do not understand bird law.

61

BrokenEye3 t1_j6fm9o5 wrote

To a given value of "utopian". The birds in the play are a bit, well, batty. Props to them for usurping the gods, though.

9

KayWDubs t1_j6fmqtr wrote

Replying to BrokenEye3 (#1,595,646)

I first heard it while watching a playthrough of The Lego Movie ages ago.

I haven't seen it on TV Tropes, though. Haven't even visited the site in a while for that matter. Now I at least know it has a page there, so I have that going on for me.

3

lazyMarthaStewart t1_j6fn1ds wrote

I had not heard the phrase before either, until I read the book, which was extraordinary.

13

KWNewyear t1_j6fnq0g wrote

Replying to kgunnar (#1,595,049)

I remember the phrase from being one of the levels in Banjo-Tooie, and now I'm starting to think these 30-somethings who "never heard of it" just never had any fun in their lives.

9

Nonjing t1_j6fnq1n wrote

The infidels in this comment thread have clearly never played Banjo Twooie

33

LAX_to_MDW t1_j6fonic wrote

The amount of people in this thread who don’t believe this is a real phrase is ridiculous. It gets used all the time in politics. It’s in a Radiohead song. It’s in the Lego Movie. It’s in a Banjo Kazooie game. It’s the name of a recent Pulitzer Prize winning book. Fucking Elon Musk has tweeted the phrase.

Just because you didn’t know something exists does not mean it doesn’t exist.

16

HadeyCakes t1_j6foxaw wrote

I've heard this phrase due to "Like Spinning Plates" by Radiohead.

8

pbandjea1ous t1_j6fr11z wrote

All these people are out in cloud cuckoo land because they’re having their moment of cognizance about something they’ve heard 50 times and never thought about.

1

MsChrisha t1_j6ftjrr wrote

The book Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr is an amazing read!

49

2_short_Plancks t1_j6fudsa wrote

Huh. My dad has always used this phrase, and I just assumed he'd mangled the original phrase (he has a tendency to do that).

He's in his 70s and from NZ, for the record.

2

rawrc t1_j6fwupa wrote

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME

5

betsy_blair_fan t1_j6fzxyc wrote

Toby Esterhazy berating Joss Ackland:

> ...You're an embarrassment. You go on a bender, drink yourself into Cloud Cuckoo Land, and come staggering back here....

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Episode 6, 1979, Smiley Sets A Trap.

Adapted from the LeCarre novel.

Quite excellent dialogue.

6

ZweitenMal t1_j6g8hfm wrote

Or listened to the Lightning Seeds in the late 80s.

1

Danhuangmao t1_j6ga0sa wrote

Am in my mid-30s, British, have heard this phrase a lot.

1

masterofn0n3 t1_j6gbfze wrote

Til the term cloud cookoo land was a thing apparently.

6

res30stupid t1_j6gdndx wrote

Man, Hitchcock really botched the film version.

1

Cheerio13 t1_j6ghhy3 wrote

I don't think that's actually a term.

−2

fatDaddy21 t1_j6gocf6 wrote

So for all of these people who've heard this phrase before... what does it mean?

1

ThatTysonKid t1_j6gt9z2 wrote

I thought it was just the name of a world in Banjo-Tooie.

1

1984happens t1_j6gypgs wrote

Replying to Euripidaristophanist (#1,605,225)

Your username suggest to me that you did not forgot all of your Greek, so -since you are "partial to reading"- try this (slightly outdated - but longest ever) Greek word, from Aristophanes: "λοπαδοτεμαχοσελαχογαλεοκρανιολειψανοδριμυποτριμματοσιλφιολιπαρομελιτοκατακεχυμενοκιχλεπικοσσυφοφαττοπεριστεραλεκτρυονοπτοπιφαλλιδοκιγκλοπελειολαγῳοσιραιοβαφητραγανοπτερυγών"

(o.k., yes... i copy-paste it... no way to write it myself!)

2

kreatus t1_j6h9y3f wrote

even better in German: WOLKENKUCKUCKSHEIM! yes. it's real.

3

Altreus t1_j6hqrdo wrote

Replying to Mudders_Milk_Man (#1,596,617)

Ah! Elegance and class and astounding good taste, fellow redditor! It's What We Want To Believe and today is the day I finally discovered what they're saying.

In my defence, I'm pretty sure he's actually saying crown cuckoo love, which is just as nonsense if you don't know the phrase.

2

ChristianBMartone t1_j6hsemo wrote

Calling someone a cloud cuckoo lander fell out of fashion years and years ago

1