‘The etymology of “jizz”, revisited’ and the identity of the Hoodwink

Who would have thought……. Although this gives Maury F.A. Meiklejohn, to invent the Hoodwink, rather than James Fisher. And I do not understand why JIZZ should be invented on a thought to be easier to say than GISS, if indeed it was meant to be GISS, when we have no problem pronouncing kiss.

This extract from Wikipedia

Bare-fronted Hoodwink
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bare-fronted Hoodwink (Dissimulatrix spuria)
Grouping Legendary creature
Sub grouping Bird
First reported Bird Notes, 1950, in a scientific paper by Maury F.A. Meiklejohn
Last reported Unknown
Country All countries
Region All regions
Habitat All biomes
The Bare-fronted Hoodwink (Dissimulatrix spuria) was a hoax and satirical wastebasket species of bird created by ornithologist Maury F.A. Meiklejohn.[1]

The Hoodwink has the ability to be “almost seen” or “almost captured”. Bird watchers can easily identify this bird by its “blurred appearance and extremely rapid flight away from the observer.” Meiklejohn claimed that the single species could easily account for every bird not completely sighted.

Birdwatchers added this species to their list of birds to watch for, and amateurs seemed to sight the Hoodwink more often.

On April 1, 1975, the bird was put on display at the Royal Scottish Museum at Edinburgh. The exhibit also included photos of blurry birds flying away. The bird was created using the head of a carrion crow, the body of a plover, and the feet of an unknown waterfowl. The bare front was compromised with wax.[2]

Meiklejohn’s paper was published in the scientific journal Bird Notes in 1950. The paper was rather long and humorous, and he even claimed the genus to be descendant of an ancient species Paleodissimulatrix.[3]

—–Original Message—–
From: Birding-Aus [canberrabirds.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/CBN/cbnvol21no1.pdf
>> . It concluded that the most commonly cited origins of the terms – WW2
>> aircraft identification and TA Coward’s 1922 book *Bird haunts and nature
>> memories* – are not well supported by the evidence. The matter has been
>> discussed on birding-aus a few times over the intervening years.
>>
>> Twenty years later I have revisited the matter. Access to online literature
>> databases has enabled me to update the discussion: McDonald, D 2016, ‘The
>> etymology of “jizz”, revisited’, *Canberra Bird Notes*, vol. 41, no. 2, pp.
>> 113-7,
>> canberrabirds.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/CBN_41_2_final-for-web.pdf
>> .
>>
>> I now suggest that the origin of the word ‘jizz’, as we use it in birding
>> and botany today, is
>> the 19th century usage meaning energy, enthusiasm or exuberance. I document
>> how the meaning shifted from this to ‘the characteristic impression given
>> by an animal or plant’ (OED) owing to an error made by Coward in his 1922
>> book.
>>
>> David