The (holy) cow: Bossie or Bessie?

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:25 AM -0200 4/27/06, Charles Doyle wrote:
>It's my impression that once English speakers stopped
>learning Latin, the bovinym "Bossie" became opaque, and so
>it was replaced (by folk-etymology or whatever) with the
>more ordinary female name "Bessie."
>

For me, growing up in NYC c. 1950, where cows were animals I knew
from commercials and ads, the archetypal, if not holy, cow was Elsie.

larry



>---- Original message ----
>>Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:41:40 -0400
>>From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>Subject: Re: Holy cow! (1917)
>>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header ----
>-------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-
>L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: Holy cow! (1917)
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>-------------------
>>
>>Isn't the default name for a cow "Bossie"? Cf. various
>writings for childre=
>>n
>>and the intracampusly-famous sports cheer of the University
>of California
>>Farm, "Bossie! Bossie! Cow! Cow!"
>>
>>-Wilson
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org