heifer

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/14/2012 10:42 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>It depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is.
>
>I guess I out-sophisticated myself once again by assuming that
>everybody would regard bulls and cows as subsets of "bovines."
>
>This has been known around our house for about twenty years or so as
>"too much education."
>
>Especially since many people presumably don't know what "heifer" means.

What Western movie is it where the naive (meaning
Eastern) young woman refers to the cattle being
driven to market as "cows"?  John Wayne, I think
it is, calls attention to their
longhorns.  (Although there apparently are some exceptional cows.)

Joel

>JL
>
>
>
>On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 10:29 AM, Laurence Horn
><laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> > ---------------------- 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: heifer
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Feb 14, 2012, at 7:33 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> >> CNN's Soledad O'Brien (mentioned here yesterday for her use of "Na na
> >> na  na  na na") had to explain during a report this morning that "a
> >> heifer, of course, is a female cow."
> >>
> >> A. She *had to tell* CNN viewers what the word "heifer" means.
> >>
> >> B. Her definition was, er, a little off.
> >>
> >> JL
> > Well, if a bull is a male cow

> >
> > And a heifer is in fact a (female) cow,
> although not just any (female) cow.  Maybe she
> should have glossed it as 'a bovine filly'.
> >
> > LH
> >
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