The (holy) cow: Bossie or Bessie?

[Charles Doyle]

And, of course, the name of the bull-love of Elsie's life
(or was he her brother?), was Elmer--a name now known to
glue-using school children who are oblivious of the Borden
dairy company's pre-diversification history.  In fact,
hasn't "elmer (or elmer's) glue" become a generic common
noun for the the white stuff?

--Charlie



---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 10:57:59 -0400
>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject: Re: The (holy) cow:  Bossie or Bessie?
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header ----
-------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-
L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: The (holy) cow:  Bossie or Bessie?
>------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
>
>>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
>>
>P.S.  I should have specified that this was all Borden's
fault.
>
>L
>
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