Where does the word SQUAWK come from?
 

Is it because we are big birds and big birds squawk?

I was listening to a programme on Radio 4 last night which was talking about how when you describe small birds you use the word tweet to describe the sound they make and big birds SQUAWK.

Any ideas?

According to Wikipedia, "the use of the word "squawk" comes from the system's origin in the WW2 Identification Friend or Foe system, which was code-named "Parrot"."

:ok:

A PPRnNe search will probably also throw up lots of answers...

So in a roundabout way it has got to do with birds:E

Thanks Bravo

An internet search gave the following answer:

Transponders date back to World War II when the British developed a top secret radar transceiver (a transmitter transmits, a receiver receives and a transceiver does both). The British code name for this system was Parrot and it worked by responding to a radar interrogation signal with a coded transmission. This allowed the British to distinguish their own aircraft from German aircraft on radar.

When the Germans trailed the British night bombers back to England to shoot them down, Parrot was able to distinguish the German aircraft as they showed up on radar as "primary" returns, which are just blips. The returns generated by the British aircraft appeared very different because of their distinct codes.

Aircraft with these units would be given instructions such as "squawk your parrot," meaning they should turn them on. "Strangle your parrot" meant the pilots should turn the unit off as it was possible the transponder signal was powerful enough to prevent the radar system from identifying primary enemy targets.

The same system used in the U.S. by the Army Air Forces was called IFF, which stands for "Identification Friend or Foe." The term "squawk" remains in use today when the controllers issue the four digit code for the pilots to display in their transponder.

by Captain Meryl Getline

Cheers.:ok:

I seem to remember that the RN called their I-Band transponders "Canaries" and when it was activated it "chirped".

Had to suppress a guffaw one fine day listening to Hannover Radar

"Christophe 01, squawken sie null null zwo fier"

You had to be there !!

What Limits

well my wife got it even if I did not. So might be because I am German.:E

Well, PARROT is also an acronym,

Don't quite remember what for, but somnething like
Precision Approach Radio Ranging of Target or something to that effect.

There's some answers there I wouldn't have guessed!

What I would have guessed is that, if you hear the sound of the transmission through a speaker, it simply sounds like a squawk and thus the expression.

SQUAWK hmmmm sounds awfully like something the POMS do best.