"Dook" is a term that was created here on the FML, so were "speedbump",
"carpet shark" and others.  I have no idea is there were any formal words
for ferret sounds before then.  I think it may have been in the years
that predate the searchable archives but are available if requesting by
date.  I recall a "largish" membership -- nothing like today but more
than the handful of us at the beginning and in the groups which predated
the FML.  (First we we just in rec.pets, and I guess that was about 22
or 23 years ago (maybe a bit more), then we were in rec.pets.alt, then
rec.pets.alt.ferrets (a group which went away after Chris Lewis began the
FML, and was restarted several times over so the current one is not older
than the FML nor is it the same list by any means).  The reason Chris
began the FML was because we were being overrun by harassing posts, esp.
by someone who kept writing everything from "recipes" to cooking ferrets
to instructions on how to kill them for his recipes.  Chris was moderator
for something like 5 to 7 years, and then Bill Gruber (our current
moderator) took over.  Bill was an early member who provided special
services like the anonymity option since many places outlawed ferrets
back then.  Though not among the first members, Bill certainly has been
our hardest working FML member ever for getting info out to people
(including the FML being the only way to share health info for a long
time, and essential for the understanding of ECE)
 
Ah, I had a thought.  We were deciding what to call it for a while.
It came down to several major terms and the first reference I find with
the "dook" spelling is from Pam Greene (creator of Ferretcentral.org):
 
>Tue, 26 Oct 1993 14:11:18 -0400
>1) Rusty makes a whimpering, wailing sound almost continuously when
>he's in his cage, even while he's eating or playing with his toys.  He
>does it a bit when he's being held, too.  Is this the kit version of
>the cluck-dook happy-noise, or is he lonely or bored, or what?
 
[Moderator's note: The above is indeed the first mention of "dook" in
the archives (I can search the older ones not yet on the server.)]
 
That sounds like perhaps we were already discussing this, or the term had
already been used in off-list communications with Pam, or Pam may have
been the first to suggest the term as a descriptive word for that sound.
So, I will look in the next year.
 
In 1994 the word brings up 21 hits, so I suspect its creation exists in
the searchable FML archives.  (Anyone can look there; the address is in
the leading paragraphs of every day's FML.)
 
Michelle Kurtz wrote "dook" vs.  "kih" in June of 1994.  In October of
that year Kristin Herzog wrote about a preference for "dook-dook " over
"chittering".  Cheryl Cato used "dook" in April.
 
So, it looks like Pam Greene may have been the originator of "dook", but
I can not find the definite origin conversation though I do know for
certain that the word began here so it may actually have predated her
but taken a bit of time before it was in general usage.
 
Oh, wait, I thought of other ways to search because I just recalled that
the spelling was not standardized at first; some people spelled it "duke"
and variants thereof.
 
The term "cluck" still seemed to have been used pretty often into 1994
(considering how many of us there were until 1994).
 
Ohhhhhh, here is a post which will interest a number of people:
<http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind9206&L=FERRET-SEARCH&P=R1293>
 
If you want to get an idea of how much travel was often involved for
vet care for a number of members (and still is in some places):
<http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind9410&L=FERRET-SEARCH&P=R2592>
 
Anyway, that is more than you asked Alex, but now you have that stuff,
too.  Useful sometimes having someone handy who has always been here,
isn't it?
 
-- Sukie (not a vet)
Ferret Health List co-moderator
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives fan
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
replacing
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
International Ferret Congress advisor
http://www.ferretcongress.org
 
[Moderator's note: My preferred term was (and actually still is)
"chortle".  It was used quite frequently for a while, although "dook"
does seem to pre-date "chortle" on the FML.  "Dook" eventually gained
in popularity and one rarely hears "chortle" anymore.   BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 5046]