Submitted by janine  •  December 18, 2007

Sings like a canary

Where does that phrase come from and what does it mean?

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Javid Jamae  (unregistered)

December 20, 2007, 1:36pm

dictionary.com says that a canary is "someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police". Maybe "he sang like a canary" means that "he ratted somebody out".

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Ollie  (unregistered)

December 25, 2007, 5:33am

To "Sing like a canary" is probably an exact translation from Polish, which means to sing very well.

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Anonymous  (unregistered)

April 9, 2008, 2:25pm

Maggie kate, I'm afraid the truth is far more grim than you realize. Carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless, even to canaries. They are small, frail creatures compared to us humans, far more susceptible to its effects. It wasn't the canaries' chirping that warned the miners. It was the canaries' keeling over dead that warned them.

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Mike  (unregistered)

January 30, 2009, 9:40pm

In reference to an informer: "loudly and at length." :-)

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Starki  (unregistered)

January 12, 2008, 3:37pm

Actually, both Javid Jamae and Ollie might be right because the translated sentence has both meanings.

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maggie kate  (unregistered)

April 8, 2008, 4:07pm

it also might have something to do with the use of canaries in coal mines. they can sense when the carbon monoxide was present, so their chirping would signal the miners to get to some fresh air.

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