A cockernonnie or cockernonie was an old Scottish women's hairstyle. It was a gathering up of the hair, after a fashion similar to the modern chignon, and sometimes called a "cock-up". Mr. Kirkton of Edinburgh, preaching against "cock-ups" – of which chignons were the representative in the mid-19th century – said:
"Cock-up" is in common usage as another term for "foul-up" in British English. For example, "The Ministry of Defence's programme to make airworthy the eight Chinook Mk3 helicopters, which it acquired in 2001 for special operations work, has been a gold standard cock-up."[1]
The contemporary British English usage of "cock-up" likely derives from the nautical usage of the term to describe an arrangement of the yards of a square-rigged vessel in port, and therefore likely predates the cockernonnie derivation suggested above, square-rigged vessels being in use considerably before most of the Scots references quoted here. It is possible the term has two completely unrelated origins; however, contemporary common usage is more likely to derive from the nautical term, which has an explicit association with foul-up, rather than the Scots term.
Modern folk etymology has sometimes suggested that "cock-up" refers to a male erection, or to the phrase "cacked up", but this is untrue.
John Jamieson was of the opinion that "cockernonnie" signified a snood, or gathering of the hair in a band or fillet. Sir Walter Scott used the term in his novels:
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