Birdcage (pronounced burd-keyj)
(1) A cage
for confining birds (built traditionally with wire or wicker and used also as
bird cage & bird-cage).
(2) Something
that in form (at any scale) resembles (even vaguely) the construction of a birdcage.
(3) In
aviation industry slang, the airspace over an airport and the aircraft there in
flight.
(4) An area
on a racecourse where horses parade before a race (“paddock” preferred in US
use).
(5) In US
slang, a used-car lot (now rare).
1480–1490:
The construct was bird + cage. Bird was
a pre-900 form, from the Middle English byrd,
from the Old English bridd & brid (which in the Northumbrian dialect was
“bird”) (young bird, chick; feathered, warm-blooded vertebrate animal of the
class Aves). The Old English bird was an
unusual collateral form of bridd and originally
meant “young bird, nestling” whereas the typical Old English for bird was fugol, related to the noun fowl, of uncertain
origin with no known cognates in any other Germanic language (speculated links
to umlaut dismissed by etymologists).
Because birds are a creature doubtlessly noticed and in some form named
by people since the early days of human evolution, it’s not surprising it
believed variants in Middle English may go back to “an ancient period”. From the early to mid-fourteenth century,
“bird” increasingly supplanted “fowl” as the most common term.
Cage dates from 1175–1225 and was from the Middle English cage (and the earlier forms kage & gage), from the Old French cage (prison; retreat, hideout), from the Latin cavea (hollow place, enclosure for animals, coop, hive, stall, dungeon, spectators' seats in a theatre), the construct being cav(us) (hollow) + -ea, the feminine of -eus (the adjectival suffix); a doublet of cadge and related to jail. The Latin cavea was the source also of the Italian gabbia (basket for fowls, coop). The noun (box-like receptacle or enclosure, with open spaces, made of wires, reeds etc) typically described the barred-boxes used for confining domesticated birds or wild beasts was the first form and from circa 1300 was used in English to describe “a cage for prisoners, jail, prison, a cell”. To “rattle someone's cage” is to upset or anger them, based on the reaction from imprisoned creatures (human & animal) to the noise made by shaking their cages. The noun bird-cage (also birdcage) was in the late fifteenth century formed to describe a "portable enclosure for birds", as distinct from the static cages which came to be called aviaries. The verb (to confine in a cage, to shut up or confine) dates from the 1570s and was derived from the noun. The synonyms for the verb include crate, enclosure, jail, pen, coop up, corral, fold, mew, pinfold, pound, confine, enclose, envelop, hem, immure, impound, imprison, incarcerate, restrain & close-in. Cage is a noun, verb and (occasional) adjective, caged & caging are verbs (used with object) and constructions include cage-less, cage-like, re-cage; the noun plural is cages. Birdcage is a noun; the noun plural is birdcages.
The term gilded cage (often heard in the form “trapped in a gilded cage” describes a place (or situation) which superficially is attractive but is in some way constraining; a comfortable but confined situation. The point of the “gilded cage” is the “effective confinement” is achieved not by the “cage” but by the unwillingness of the confined to relinquish the luxury of their “gilded lifestyle”; it’s thus a self-imposed “imprisonment”, certain comfort valued more than the uncertainties of freedom. The term is thought to have been coined by the writers of the popular song A Bird in a Gilded Cage (1900). History (some of it recent) is littered with examples of those “trapped in a gilded cage” and overwhelming they’re well-bred women, compelled for various reasons (dynastic, financial, political etc) to marry someone not of their choice. A classic example of the adage “for everything you do there’s a price to be paid”, the best documented are the most miserable but the phenomenon is an illustration of the way what ultimately matters is not the situation in which one finds oneself but how one reacts.
Consuelo Vanderbilt (1877-1964) was the most illustrious of the American “dollar princesses” who crossed the Atlantic to marry increasingly impoverished members of the British aristocracy. Unhappily (and tearfully), aged 18, she became Duchess of Marlborough, diligently and dutifully (for a while) fulfilling the role her father’s money had purchased. The French painter Paul César Helleu was noted for his portraits of society women of the Belle Époque and, working on commission, he was not above flattery but there’s no doubt he captured the beauty of the slender Consuelo and they may have had had an affair, a diversion not uncommon among dollar princesses chaffing against the bars of their gilded cage. While in the history texts most in gilded cages are there because they led tortured, unhappy lives, there were some who resolved to “make the best of things” and just try to enjoy the gild: taking the rough with the smooth as it were. F Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) in The Great Gatsby (1925) described Daisy Buchanan as a “golden girl” who had opted for the security of marrying money and was thus consigned to life as a “beautiful little fool” in a “gilded cage of class and gender politics.” There are worse ways to live and as George Bernard Shaw (GBS; 1856-1950) observed, while money may not buy happiness, surely it is better to be miserable and rich than miserable and poor.
The origin of the curious use of
“birdcage” to describe the enclosed area where horses are saddled and walked
before and after a race lies in an architectural analogy, the space enclosed
traditionally by light iron railings, often decorative, painted
white and closely spaced. Spectators standing
beyond the perimeter looked at the horses, much as one looks at birds inside an
aviary; the metaphor thus “perspectival”.
In truth, the usually the circular or polygonal enclosure didn’t really resemble
a large ornamental cage but the construction of the ironwork did recall the
sides of a “birdcage” although obviously there was no need exactly to replicate
the design, horses being unable, Pegasus-like, to “fly away”.
The term remains in common use in the UK, Australia and New Zealand
where it had become part of the “social scene” of race days, the photographs
published on society pages or Instagram often taken from “the birdcage”; at some tracks the spectator area has been remodelled for exactly that purpose
with appropriate promotional backdrops.
In North America, used of “birdcage” in this context is rare, “paddock”
the preferred term.
A similar linguistic adaptation was the “bullpen” (in baseball, an enclosed area for pitchers to practice in or “warm up”), the word possibly borrowed from rodeos where it literally was the (well-fenced) holding area for bulls. In baseball, “bullpen” became a collective noun for pitchers and functioned as a synecdoche. From the sport, it spread and came to be used figuratively to describe (1) “a place for someone or something to get prepared for some purpose” and (2) a military prison or its enclosing stockade. Some decades after bullpen entered the vernacular of the sport, leagues were formed for women’s baseball and although in ranching the term “cowpen” (fenced area for holding cows) was well-known, baseball sensibly decided its nomenclature etymologically was detached from biological sex so assembled female pitchers also warmed-up in a bullpen and despite a recent trend towards gender-neutrality in sporting terminology, “bullpen” survived as fossilized baseball jargon. Linguistically uncontroversial in the sport was “birdcage mask” which was the protective mask worn by catchers, the “birdcage element” referring to the thick wire structure protecting the face while still permitting adequate vision.
Lindsay Lohan (birdcage scene), Rumors (Official Music Video) from Speak (2004).
The origin
of the use in baseball is contested although all seem to agree it came into use
very early in the twentieth century. One
explanation is that by then it had become common for late-coming spectators to
be cordoned off in a “standing room” area in “foul territory” (to the sides of
the field where any ball hit was deemed “out of bounds”) and, noting the
laggards were “herded like cattle”, “bullpen” was borrowed from the rodeo. When those areas were re-purposed as the
pitchers warm-up space, the designation stuck and the notion relief pitchers
were once viewed “bullish” in temperament is thought one of baseball’s many
myths. An alternative theory is the use
was at least influenced by the outfield fences at baseball grounds once often displaying
advertisements for Bull Durham tobacco and in front of these relief pitchers
would wait to be called into play and the use was thus associated with the
billboards but for this there’s no documentary evidence.
By definition, a birdcage is of course “something in which one keeps one’s pet bird” but they can be also, certainly in their more elaborate forms, a decorative piece of furniture, a symbol of domesticity in the same way George Orwell (1903-1950) in Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936) used the Aspidistra plant as an identifier of the middle-class though in fairness to the reputation of the perennial herbaceous plant, their popularity in English houses owed much to them being among the species most tolerant of the sometimes smoky atmosphere in an era when coal and wood burned on open fireplaces was a common form of heating. They were thus an ideal house plant, being tolerant of neglect and suited to shade while their luxuriant growth meant they were effective oxygenators of air high in CO2.
Tough, the Aspidistra wasn’t exactly “unkillable” but one really had to try and the plants thus were for generations something of a middle class fixture; it was in this sense Albert Speer (1905–1981; Nazi court architect 1934-1942; Nazi minister of armaments and war production 1942-1945), in his (sometimes reliable) memoir Erinnerungen (Memories or Reminiscences) and published in English as Inside the Third Reich (1969) noted the birdcage in Adolf Hitler’s (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) country house, some years before it was enlarged in the sprawling complex centred on the Berghof: “After Berchtesgaden came the steep mountain road full of potholes, until we arrived at Hitler's small, pleasant wooden house on Obersalzberg. It had a wide overhanging roof and modest interior: a dining room, a small living room, and three bedrooms. The furniture was bogus old-German peasant style and gave the house a comfortable petit-bourgeois look. A brass canary cage, a cactus, and a rubber plant intensified this impression. There were swastikas on knickknacks and pillows embroidered by admiring women, combined with, say, a rising sun or a vow of ‘eternal loyalty.’ Hitler commented to me with some embarrassment: ‘I know these are not beautiful things, but many of them are presents. I shouldn't like to part with them.’” Speer made no mention of a canary or any other bird sitting in the cage and nor is there a reference in contemporary accounts; that is in keeping with Hitler’s known views on how animals should be treated and while his attitudes to humanity proved reprehensible, those on wildlife were quite enlightened.
Although there’s obviously some functional overlap, as well as birdcages, there are birdhouses, coops, aviaries, pigeon lofts. A birdhouse is a “small house” for birds (and known also as a nest box). Made usually of wood and mounted somewhere the residents will be protected from ground-dwelling predators, birdhouses are outdoor structures designed not to imprison wild birds but provide them a shelter where they can build nests. A coop (in this context) is a place where birds are kept but while a birdcage is for a household pet, a coup is for productive (egg-laying and sometimes feathers or meat) birds and are enclosures built outside, partially enclosed (“chicken coops” the best known). The word aviary has a wide vista and can be anything from a relatively small structure housing two or more birds to vast zoo-like areas in which there may be a mix of captive and wild creatures. A pigeon loft (known also as a dovecote) is a specialized type of birdhouse, often placed on a building’s roof or other elevated spot in which domestic pigeons are bred and housed, usually for use in the sport of pigeon racing; the element “loft” tends to be used irrespective of the location of the structure. A synonym was columbarium, from the Latin columbārium, the construct being columb(a) (pigeon) + -ārium (place for) and because the sport became popular among the aristocracy of the Ancien Régime (circa 1500-1789) in France, the construction of columbaria because something of a contest (al la the “size race” in luxury yachts between today’s billionaires) and architects were engaged to design large, elaborate structures, sometimes emulating the style of the owner’s chateau.
In the airline industry, “birdcaging” is a term which has come into vogue among passengers; it describes the request from cabin crew to close window blinds or (in aircraft configured with electronically dimmable windows) turn down the settings. Apparently, if passengers don’t conform, the staff will enforce the onset of darkness. Theories have circulated on the sites where disgruntled passengers complain about the antics of airlines (they are most active sites) with the most popular suggestion being it’s an attempt to keep the cabin’s environment “subdued”, encouraging “better behaviour”. The airlines seem not to have commented and “birdcaging” is neither acknowledged industry jargon nor admitted to be any company’s policy. Flight attendants have however taken to TikTok to subdue the debate, claiming airlines “encourage” the dimming to created “a comfortable environment for those who wish to sleep”. Those keeping birds in cages will note the calming effect of placing a shroud over the wires, emulating night-time. At least one flight attendant did concede: “I will say this does affect the calmness of the cabin, but that is not the reason we do this.” From all this, bird-caged passengers will draw their own conclusions.
From its debut in 1953, the Chevrolet Corvette’s body has always
been made from non-steel composite materials ranging from simple GRP (glass-reinforced
plastic and better known as fiberglass) to materials of increasing complexity
so rust has never afflicted the external panels but beneath all those curves
and angels is much vulnerable ferrous metal including the frame and “birdcage”, the latter
an object of veneration or despair, depending on its condition. A crucial component in the overall strength
and structure of some Corvettes, the birdcage was first integrated into the design when
the C2 (1962-1967) was released and the same concept was used for the C3 (1968-1982): a reinforced frame surrounding the
cabin, the nickname from the overall shape which vaguely recalled a birdcage. Similar in outline to the “safety cell” for
which Mercedes-Benz was in 1952 granted Patent 854157 (rigid passenger cell
with front and rear crumple zones), the birdcage consisted of boxed steel
channels with pillars running from the base of the windshield (A-pillars),
along the rear of the cabin, and down to the frame kick-up behind the seats. Although not really a complex piece of
engineering, the fact that so integral to the car is the structure, for
extensive repairs to be performed considerable disassembly is required and the
cost of out-sourcing such a task often can exceed the value of the car;
economics thus suggest it’s usually advisable to find a car with birdcage in
sound condition, repairs often financially viable only if the car is rare (ie
with a highly desirable specification or even a celebrity association). A visual inspection is best left to experts
because unless it has just emerged from a comprehensive restoration, the birdcages on all C2 & C3 Corvettes will have at least some light, surface
rust but it can take an expert eye to tell the difference between that and rot
which demands attention. Fortunately,
the Corvette community is vibrant with publications and on-line guides detailing the features & foibles of the structure.
Troubled birdcage: Rusted C3 windshield frame left-lower outer corner (left) and a replacement corner component (1968-1972) @ US$199.00 from Corvette Central.
On both the C2 & C3, there were two variants of the design, one for the coupe (T-top in the C3) and the one for the roadster (the last such C3 made in 1975) but all shared the susceptibility to rust, especially if used in areas with high salt-exposure (coastal regions or places where the stuff was spread on icy roads) and the part most often affected severely was the “Windshield Frame Lower Outer Corners”, replacement sections available and in two different versions for the C3, reflecting the design changes in the post 1973 cars. However, while the birdcage's most afflicted components, the windshield frame’s outer corners are not unique and the hinge pillars & lock pillars (including the body mount at the bottom) also are notably rust-prone.
To call what was used on the C4 Corvette (1984-1996) a “birdcage” was a bit of a gray area because although routinely so described, materially and structurally it was quite different from the classic template set by the C2 & C3. What was carried over was welded steel structure surrounding the windshield frame, A-pillars, roof rails, B-pillars and rear window frame which created a defined passenger safety cell distinct from the outer composite body panels so it seems reasonable still to use the term but the C4 did not have a “stand-alone” frame onto which the body was mounted, the “birdcage” being an integral part of the frame. There were a number of design imperatives which dictated the path chosen for the C4 and it was built with a uniframe in which front and rear frame sections were integrated, thereby providing greater rigidity so no longer was the “birdcage” a kind of bolted-on” internal scaffold but an inherent part of the whole. The C4 was the last Corvette in which something recognizably “birdcagesque” would appear.
However, the structural integrity the birdcage in 1962 provided needed still to be achieved but the “brute-force” approach of the C2-C3-C4 era was replaced with more advanced techniques and by the time the mid-engined C8 was released in 2019, the platform structurally would have been unrecognizable to anyone familiar with the earlier generations. The C8 is built around a core element (the so-called “backbone” or “spine”) which can be visualized as a large aluminum tunnel running down the centre of the car and from this the chassis gains its primary torsional stiffness; it was something like bringing the chassis of the 1962 Lotus Elan into the modern age. The body panels are almost all non-structural and while there is (as is now universal) a reinforced “safety cell” around the cabin, this is protection of occupants in the event of an “impact incident” (better known as a “crash”).
The Birdcage: The Maserati Tipo 60/61 (chassis #2549, clothed & exposed).
Upon
released in late 1962, the structure in the C2 Corvette gained the nickname
“birdcage” because of the shape but before that, there was the Maserati
“Birdcage”, the Tipo 60/61 (1959-1961) so dubbed because it departed from the
typical approach of those building space fames in that instead of relatively few,
thick tubes and sections, Maserati used many more but they were slender. Observers were much taken with the apparent delicacy
of the construction and although the engineers assured all the intricate
latticework of some 200 chromoly steel tubes (welded often in triangulated form
in the points of highest stress) was a design delivering both lightness and
rigidity to match the more robust-looking creations. Those admiring the intricacy were struck more by the resemblance to the thin wires of birdcages.
Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (W196S, upper) & 300 SL (W198, lower).
One of the
reasons the Maserati’s skeleton looked so delicate was that the space-frame had
become associated with Teutonic-flavored construction like that used by
Mercedes-Benz for its 300 SL & 300 SLR.
Both shared the same method of construction but despite the names and
the visual similarity between the two, there were few common components beyond
the nuts, bolts & screws. The 300 SL
(W198; 1954-1963) was a road car while the SLR (W196S; 1955) was a lengthened
version of the W196R Formula One Grand Prix car with a sexy body and an
enlarged (though somewhat detuned) straight-eight engine; in the sport, it would be the last of the straight-8s.
The final and most remarkable Maserati
birdcage was Tipo 63 Birdcage which featured a mid-mounted 3.0 litre V12. The Tipo 60 & 61 used front-mounted
four-cylinder engines in displacements of 2.0 & 2.9 litres and although
there were problems which never wholly were solved (although the reliability
did over time improved), the platform enjoyed some success because its
forgiving nature lent it excellent handling characteristics and in
long-distance events, the lack of power was somewhat offset by the modest fuel
consumption and relative low tyre wear, time not spent in the pits as valuable
as seconds shaved off lap-times. Unlike
some of its competitors, Maserati did not have the financial resources to “keep
up with the times” and develop from scratch a mid-engined sports car so the
factory took the approach familiar to many an American engineer and hot-rodder:
put in a bigger engine.
