Re: Epicene words
| From: | Andy <adchaney@...> |
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| Date: | Sunday, February 27, 2005, 14:56 |
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***gmail warning***
Elephants, giraffes, hippopotamuses (hippopotami?), mooses (meese?), &
elk can be cows and bulls, too. Male alligators are bulls, but I
don't know if the females are called cows.
It seems the terms cow and bull can been used as a male/female pair
for any large (non-primate/non-fish) vertebrate species lacking its
own specific terms.
delurking,
andy.
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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:53:02 +1100
From: Tristan McLeay <conlang@...>
Subject: Re: Epicene words
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Not quite; 'cow' is used as the epicene term for cattle. A female whale
is a cow and a male one's a bull, but whale's aren't cows. (Anyone know
how that one came about?)