michigoose and michigas

[Victoria Neufeldt]

But he may have a point, because we're talking about English here and the
traditional culture of English-speaking people.  Another traditional English
domestic animal for which the unmarked name designates the female is the
sheep.  (But I wouldn't say that "cow" could refer to a bull -- we had a
discussion about cows and bulls recently, I think.)

Victoria

Victoria Neufeldt
Merriam-Webster, Inc. P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102
Tel: 413-734-3134  ext 124
Fax: 413-827-7262

Sharyn Hay wrote on July 17:

>. . .  "goose" is one of the relatively rare birds and beasts
> in which the female is the unmarked.
>
> Mark Mandel replied:
>
> ISTM* that this set consists of those species (word used loosely) whose
> female produces either eggs or milk that are economically useful:
> cow
> chicken
> goose
> duck
>
> Others?
> * Sorry: It Seems To Me.
> Mark A. Mandel : Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company
> Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com : Sr. Linguist & Mgr. of Acoustic Data
> 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com
> (speaking for myself)
>
> Mark Mandel, have you ever heard of yak milk, camel milk, goat milk, emu
> eggs, ostrich eggs, etc. One nation's economically useful species is not
> necessarily another's.
>
> Sharyn Hay, RNC, MSN
> storkrn at msn.com
>