cash cow

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:39 PM -0800 2/14/06, FRITZ JUENGLING wrote:
>This is a reply in a newspaper about the funding for the Oregon
>Garden, which is having financial difficulties:
>
>If it had been built near 1-5, there would have been a chance. We
>had a business in Silverton, but closed it because the 'promise of
>tourists' just didn't pan out. The Garden was a big flop, and is now
>just a cash cow.
>
>Now, I understand "cash cow" to mean exactly the opposite of what
>this writer thinks.  So, which is it?  IS a cash cow a giver or
>taker of money?
>Any comments?
>
a confusion between "cash cow" and "white elephant", both being large
quadrupeds?

LH

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