You wrote, "Why do we call each other scaredy cat or chicken when cowardly or maybe making a wise choice?"

Well, maybe because we're too afraid to cross the road. And maybe we are afraid of chickens, because they are not afraid to cross the road. We even wonder if they know if there is a road, but we stand humiliated next to them when they do cross the road.

From Roberta Frosty:

I once stood on a path in a wood
where chickens went left
and man once stood.
But I went left that day,
and I was not a chicken,
and then there was all of the
difference that made.

Cheers -

You know, I forgot to ask if the chicken propels itself.
I would think if would have to be live, and whole enough to propel itself to consider the question any further.

I think that when asked, "Why did the chicken cross the road?", that we must first ask if it is a whole, live chicken, or just a piece of chicken. Secondly, and where it is a whole, live chicken, I think that we should ask, seriously, if it is a sentient being, capable even of knowing that there is a road. And thirdly, I think we should face the profound dilemma that we may then find ourselves in; that we are not chickens.

If I knew then what I know now, I don't think it would have taken as long.