four-footed males, females, and children

[Ann Burlingham]

On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 10:23 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: four-footed males, females, and children
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I have to say, Mark said it more clearly in fewer words:
>>Or, at least, cow[female] is much
>>better known than dog[male]
>
> That are the only grounds on which I can excuse Shortz.  (But he has
> exiled dog breeders and cow herders from his clientele.)

I don't know - the use of "cow" to refer to other than female cattle
drives me crazy, and I grew up on a dairy farm (I still live there,
but we don't have dairy cattle any more - someone does raise beef
cattle, though).

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