Chookas

[rene]

You've probably been asked this a thousand times, but can anyone tell me the origin of this term.

[Buff]

This is an explanation I found:

I believe Toi is a hang up from European theatre, loosely meaning with or from the heart. It is said while patting your right hand on your left heart (if you have more than one?) each time Toi is said. Chook means chicken in the strine lingo. Chookas came about during the music Hall/Vaudeville days. Meaning as we have a full house we will be all eating chicken tonight. Remembering in those days, chicken was an expensive meat in the Cities. Because the only refrigeration available was from an ice chest or meat safe. The meat safe was an open framed cabinet with a water container on top. Hessian draped over it & submerged into the container at the top. The water would soak down thru the weave of the material via a capillary action & the air would evaporate the breeze cooled water drawn down thru the hessian. In the same way as water coolers & evaporative air condition units work today - only much cruder. So unless you grew chickens in your back yard, where they could be harvested, cooked & eaten in the hot weather. It was a rarity for itinerant performers to afford to eat chicken. Hence the call from the SM, that it was a full house! Became chookas. Now a days it is a good luck wish & hope you play to a full house.

Whether that's the true origin or, who knows!

Buff

[Talissa]

There are so many possible etymologies floating around that really, who knows? That's a good one, though.

I've also seen one about sacrificing chickens!