? ? ? keep a cow

[James Stalker]

Indeed it was.   But, like Larry, we were city kids and didn't have many
cows handy.

Jim


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 8:44 AM
Subject: Re: ? ? ? keep a cow


> It was "Go fuck a dog" or "Fuck a dog" (or, more elaborately, "(Go)
> fuck a big brown dog") in S. Indiana-Louisville in the late 40s early
> 50s.
>
> dInIs
>
>
> >Is "Go fuck a cow !" known to exist ?
> >
> >JL
> >
> >James C Stalker <stalker at MSU.EDU> wrote:
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender: American Dialect Society
> >Poster: James C Stalker
> >Subject: Re: ? ? ? keep a cow
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
> >
> >Further thought. Perhaps the base form is "go fuck yourself." By
> >extension, "go fuck a cow," which I'm sure your dad would never have said
or
> >even have thought of, so the "go + (do) + absurd action" is a euphemistic
> >substitute. Opens up lots of creative options. Maybe?
> >
> >Jim
> >
> >Roger Shuy writes:
> >
> >>  on 4/23/05 9:58 AM, RonButters at AOL.COM at RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
> >>
> >>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>  -----------------------
> >>>  Sender: American Dialect Society
> >>>  Poster: RonButters at AOL.COM
> >>>  Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Re:=20=A0=20=A0=20=A0=20keep=20a=20cow?=
> >>>
>
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
> >>  --> -
> >>>
> >>>  In a message dated 4/23/05 9:51:30 AM, rshuy at MONTANA.COM writes:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>  My late father, who would be 101 now if he were still alive, used
some
> >>>>  expressions that I've not heard from others. I wonder if any one
else has
> >>>>  heard the expression of disgust said to someone else, "Oh, go keep a
cow."
> >>>>  He lived all his life in central to northern Ohio.
> >>>>
> >>>>  Roger
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>  This seems to me to mean the same thing as "Oh, go fly a kite," which
was
> >>>  very common in east-central Iowa in the 1950s. "Oh, go keep a cow"
sounds
> >>>  vaguely
> >>>  familiar, but I can't say for sure that any of my grandparents used
it (or
> >>>  didn't).
> >>>
> >>  He also used to say, "Go chase yourself" and I wonder if he was alone
in
> >>  this too.
> >>
> >>  roger
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >James C. Stalker
> >Department of English
> >Michigan State University
> >
> >__________________________________________________
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>
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
>         Asian and African Languages
> Wells Hall A-740
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
> Office: (517) 353-0740
> Fax: (517) 432-2736
>