Although it's easy to figure out the stories behind some compound words (for example, it's obvious how houseboat and tablecloth came by those names) explaining the origin of other compound words can stump the most imaginative of tale tellers. For instance, do you know how a sheriff's deputy, especially one who makes arrests for failure to pay debts, came to be called a catchpole? In this case, the truth is stranger than any fiction.

We'll begin by admitting that the English catchpole was not coined by pairing catch plus pole; in fact, the word owes a debt of thanks to the French. It did start as a combination of two words, but they were cachier (Old North French for "to hunt or chase") plus pol (meaning "chicken"). The original cachepol, then, was a chicken-chaser.

If you've ever tried to catch a chicken who didn't want to be captured, you know how challenging that task can be. And since chasing down someone who owes you money can also be pretty difficult, catchpoll eventually became a byword for "debt police." But before that sense developed during the 12th century, the French cachepol had another meaning, too, one that may inspire sympathy for the chicken: "tax collector."

Verrry interesting, Gilly. The Superintendent of Education for the State of Wyoming is named Judy Catchpole.
Dare I pass this information along to her?

Next time you see her fjohn you might want to ask her if her daddy was a chicken farmer.

Double dare.