Cloud Cuckoo Land

Watch this on YouTube here - Cloud Video - YouTube Video

Meaning:

Cloud Cuckoo Land is A state or realm of unrealistic and idealized fancy, beyond the realms of possibility, a mythical domain a utopia. Often said to “live in Cloud cuckoo land” or “to be in Cloud cuckoo land”

Examples:

“Her dreams are straight from cloud cuckoo land.”
“He's always got some harebrained schemes on how to make money, all of them right out of cloud-cuckoo land!”

Origin:

This is not an idiom that we use or hear that much today; Cloud-cuckoo-land was coined by the 4th century BC Greek playwright Aristophanes in the whimsical and extravagant play, The Birds

It talks about how the birds made a realm to separate the gods from humankind. It read:

Pisthetairos: All right then, what name shall we provide?
Chorus leader: Some name from around here - to do with clouds, with high places full of air, something really extra grand.
Pisthetairos: Well, then, how do you like this: Cloudcuckooland?

This play was translated to English in 1824, which is when cloud cuckoo land started to be used more frequently. The use of the phrase has always been used to express a land of make-believe or ideas that are not attainable. Like a city in the clouds.

Cloud Video - YouTube Video

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