The lonely shepherd

[Benjamin Barrett]

It appears the same thing happens to the cowherd/oxherd in recounting the tale of the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd. There are a lot of people who refer to the cowherd as a shepherd. It appears that he might actually herd sheep in some versions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilseok), though, so it's not 100% clear, but I suspect at least some cases are due to people not used to the word "cowherd."

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

On Jun 5, 2013, at 8:47 PM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET> wrote:

> In this article about ChicagoO'Hare Airport employing goats to graze on
> the runways to keep them free of grass and weeds, there's this sentence:
> 
> The herd of 25 goats will be transported to O'Hare from the nearby
> suburb of Barrington Hills in about a month, along with a shepherd who
> will oversee them ....
> http://inhabitat.com/chicagos-ohare-airport-hires-goat-herd-to-graze-along-runways/
> 
> What, not a goatherd?
> 
> Neal
> 

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