[Lexicog] Whales: bulls and cows (was: circular definitions)

[Translation MALI]

So, Mike,

What would you do with "to have a whale of a time" in your dictionary?

Fritz Goerling


MessageBenjamin Barrett wrote:
> Many native English speakers are not aware that a male
> whale is a bull and a female a cow.

Mike Maxwell replied:

That's because for many native English speakers, a male whale is _not_ a
bull, nor is a female whale a cow.  Likewise, for Herman Melville, a whale
(of whatever gender) was a warm-blooded, air breathing fish with a
horizontal tail.  But a whale is not a fish for me.

<
<
Thus, to Benjamin's citation from the AH dictionary, rather than changing
(1c), I would add:

    1d. (biology) A male whale.

(I don't really like 'biology', since I had never heard this usage, and I
have a degree in zoology.  But I can't come up with a better qualifier at 11
PM.)





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