Drongos

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person regarded as foolish or inept, often used in a light-hearted or humorous context
2. A term derived from an Australian bird known for its silly behavior and tendency to imitate other birds
3. Referring to someone who often makes mistakes or poor decisions, often in a social setting

Etymology: The bird came first. The drongo is a glossy black songbird of Asia and Australia, and the spangled drongo of northern Australia gave its name to a racehorse. Foaled in 1920 and retired in 1925, that horse never won a race, and somewhere in Australian racing talk its name turned into a byword for a hopeless loser. From there, anyone slow-witted or clumsy could be called a drongo, and the noun has since moved from the track into everyday speech. The bird's name has a further origin: it comes from Malagasy, the language of Madagascar, where the word for these birds is "drongo". A rival account links the Australian slang to wartime air force recruits, supposedly after the same bird, but the racehorse story is the one the record best supports. "Drongos" is simply the plural of this noun.