Not quite, spatston. "Squawk" however came from the association with "Parrot", didn't it, which was the original NATO codename for IFF (Identification Friend or Foe ) Mk1 equipment. This basically didn't have the 4094 selectable codes of the later IFFs. The only facilities were "High", "Low", "Emerg". and "OFF".
If one was asked to Squawk "High", this stronger signal gave a form of "Ident" that we now know so well. The "Low" selection was made for normal radar tracking.
Don't think I ever heard "strangle " before......