2007-03-18 06:48:42 · 5 answers · asked by Alicat 6 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Polls & Surveys
Originally, the word was used to describe the pit or enclosed area where cockfights were conducted.
By the 1700s, cockpit was used as a metaphor for any scene of combat, although in naval parlance the word was used to describe the area below decks on a man-o-war where the wounded were evacuated.
World War I aviators adopted the word cockpit in 1914 to describe the cramped place where the pilot sits.
Our modern sense of cockpit includes the entire crew areas of large airliners, which are usually fairly spacious and not, one hopes, the scene of conflict.
2007-03-18 06:52:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Cockpit also came to be used for any small enclosed area. On Royal Navy warships in the 17th and 18th century, the area where junior officers were stationed became known as the cockpit. This led to the word being used to refer to the area towards the stern of a small decked vessel that houses the rudder controls. Cockpit as a term for the pilot's compartment in an aircraft first appeared in 1914 and from about 1935 cockpit also came to be used informally to refer to the driver's seat of a car, especially a high performance one, and this is official terminology in Formula One
2007-03-18 06:53:37 · answer #2 · answered by thesunking 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That is a good question! I never thought about it before!
2007-03-18 07:19:34 · answer #3 · answered by Happening_babe 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Just a manly thing love... he he
2007-03-18 06:52:34 · answer #4 · answered by David The Visionary 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
tee hee - i just got it
2007-03-18 06:53:36 · answer #5 · answered by crack- a-lacka 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋