Somebody PLEASE Tell My Daughter...

[JSngry]

...that the proper "name" for a cow is Bossy.

She won't believe me.

[Chuck Nessa]

I think you're on your own, Jim.

[JSngry]

What's a father to do?

"Bossy The Cow" - that's the way it has always been, and that's the way it still is.

I stand by my convictions, including the ones that have been overturned on appeal.

[Chuck Nessa]

As someone raised on a farm with cows and as the father of a daughter, I "take the fifth".

[maren]

It's not just a wide spot in the road anymore

By JOHN IWASAKI, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

It happened nearly 30 years ago, but Darrell Lee still remembers the day the principal's voice crackled over the intercom, directing the red-faced student to the courtyard of Canyon Park Junior High School.

The summons had nothing to do with bad grades or rowdy behavior, but with runaway cows from the farm operated next door by Lee's family.

"They made me come get them," says Lee, now a school counselor. "You didn't herd them; you led them by calling. We had to say, 'Come, Boss! Come, Boss!' "

[Brownian Motion]

My wife says it's "Bessie". I checked with Dobbin and Fido, and they say it's "Bessie" too.

[maren]

From: LINGUISTIC ATLAS OF THE PACIFIC COAST

Preliminary Form of Worksheets -- Filed Interviewing -- May, 1952

http://us.english.uga.edu/lapnw/db/worksheets.html:

Calls to cows to get them from the pasture/  *come boss, sook(ie),  co bossie, co co

/Note: In calls to animals, mark stress and intonation, and note repetition./

Calls to cows to get them to stand still during milking/ *saw boss, so, histe, saw madam

Edited July 6, 2004 by maren

[maren]

From a 2001 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story, "Evening Milking":

Who's the boss?

When it is time to call the cows in for their evening milking, Erv stands outside the barn door and yells something that mixes his German heritage with his mid-Wisconsin accent and sounds something like "Come, Bahz! Bahhhz! Bahhhz! Come, Bahz!"

In fact what he is calling is "Come, Boss," the name "Boss" coming from the Latin Bos, the genus of Wisconsin's major breeds: the hardy Ayrshire, the sweet-natured Brown Swiss, the ubiquitous Holstein, the golden-milked Guernsey, the creamy Jersey, the roan-colored Shorthorn.

Calling the herd is more ritual than necessity. The cows know when it is time for milking, and most of the herd is already nosing the barnyard gate, eager to be relieved of their bovine discomfort.

AND

From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000.

 

bossy3

 

SYLLABICATION: boss·y

PRONUNCIATION:  bô' see

NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. boss·ies

Informal A cow or calf. 

ETYMOLOGY: From boss3. 

boss3

 

PRONUNCIATION:  bôs

NOUN: A cow or calf. 

ETYMOLOGY: Perhaps ultimately from Latin bos. See bovine .

Clearly I could do this till the cows come home, but I'll spare you...

[Brownian Motion]

Shows how much Dobbin, Fido, and my wife know.

[sheldonm]

I think Bessie is the name of the Cow in the old Borden's Dairy ad! I used to see their trucks by the dozens as a kid!

Mark

[RDK]

I always prefered to address cows as "meathead."

[couw]

greta

[jazzbo]

Hey I had a coworker who always called his cows "Flossie!"

Dog ask me!

Could call them "Bridget" for all I care.

[maren]

I think Bessie is the name of the Cow in the old Borden's Dairy ad! I used to see their trucks by the dozens as a kid!

Mark

I think that was ELSIE! I always thought she was married to ELMER, who seemed to have eternal life even though he was the source for Elmer's glue!

[maren]

According to tvacres.com, "Elsie the Cow beat out actor Van Johnson and U.S. Sen. Robert Taft in a 1952 recognition poll surveying America's most familiar faces."

Edited July 7, 2004 by maren

[Brownian Motion]

Interesting Elsie-Elmer history.

*

In 1936, Borden launched a series of advertisements featuring cartoon cows, including Elsie, the spokescow for Borden dairy products. In 1940, compelled by Elsie's popularity, Borden dressed up "You'll Do Lobelia," a seven-year-old, 950-pound Jersey cow from Brookfield, Massachusetts, as Elsie for an exhibit at the World's Fair. She stood in a barn boudoir decorated with whimsical props including churns used as tables, lamps made from milk bottles, a wheelbarrow for a chaise lounge, and oil paintings of Elsie's ancestors?among them Great Aunt Bess in her bridal gown and Uncle Bosworth, the noted Spanish-American War Admiral.

*

When RKO Pictures hired Elsie to star with Jack Oakie and Kay Francis in the movie Little Men, Borden needed to find a replacement for Elsie for the World's Fair exhibit. Elsie's husband, Elmer, was chosen, and the boudoir was converted overnight into a bachelor apartment, complete with every conceivable prop to suggest a series of nightly poker parties. In 1951, Borden chose Elmer to be the marketing symbol for all of Borden's glue and adhesive products.

*

Elsie the Cow and her husband Elmer have two calves, Beulah and Beauregard.

*

[chris olivarez]

According to tvacres.com, "Elsie the Cow beat out actor Van Johnson and U.S. Sen. Robert Taft in a 1952 recognition poll surveying America's most familiar faces."

I was in an airport one time and I saw Van Johnson going by. I had no problem recognizing him but Elsie would have been easier to spot and in that airport she wouldn't have been terribly out of place.

[JSngry]

My daughter remains unconvinced. But she's wavering.

Maren, can you talk some sense to the girl?