michigoose and michigas

[thomas gebhart]

Re use of cow to refer to males:

This is fairly specialized (and probably time-limited) situation that
seems to presume knowledge of the movie -- but I have heard several
instances of feeder calves (Guernsey, Holstein, Brown Swiss, etc. males)
called "dead cow walking".

beth simon

American Dialect Society wrote:
>
> 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
> >
>
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> From:         Victoria Neufeldt <vneufeldt at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM>
> Subject:      Re: michigoose and michigas
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