Why not Cow & Hog?

[d's girl]

When referring to these creatures as food, we call fish fish, chicken chicken, goat goat, duck duck, ostrich ostrich, turtle & tortoise turtle & tortoise... why do we call cow beef & hog pork? Why don't we say, "That cow off the grill was great!" or "May I have another helping of that hog roast?"

[d's girl]

Okay, Quinn, getting back w/you after consulting w/my bff on her garden. I was correct - some things they grow from seeds... okra, peas, beets, lettuce.... and some things they grow from seedlings/young plants... tomatoes, vining spinach, didn't ask what else... & no, no pesticides, even the seedlings & young plants they buy are organic from seeds... they find them from farmers/gardeners in the newspaper & thru the co-op they belong to.

I hope you know I had to give her this long, ridiculous story of how I dragged her into a thread in my o/l social network & she became a topic of conversation & now I needed some gardening info from her about her crops. ;-p I told her that I didn't give up her last name or cell phone #; only her first name, address, so people could find her garden, & work #. '-)

[Bob Stepp]

Gotta give her points for that.

[d's girl]

I'll ck, Quinn, & get back to you. I think they grow some veggies from seeds & some from seedlings/young plants.

Yes, Bob, she's the stuff. Of course, I only hang out w/really cool ppl. '-)

[Bob Stepp]

So, DG.....that's why you hang out here, right?

Hear that everybody.......we're really cool people!!!!!!

[d's girl]

Of COURSE it is & of COURSE you are, Bob - why else would I hang out here?!

[Aggie]

Cows are for hamburger. Cows are too tough for regular beef cuts like steak.

[d's girl]

WendyLynn, I can't believe he called you a cow.

[Aggie]

WendyLynn the TBDer is not a cow. She is a very lovely young lady I have had the pleasure to eat supper with. But I do have cows named Wendy, Pru, Cowgirl etc.

[d's girl]

Oh, my gosh is that YOUR calf? She has a HEART marking on her forehead!
PLEASE, oh PLEASE, name her d's girl! '-)

[Chez moi]

Aggie only grows adorable livestock.

The answer to the question, I believe, stems from the days when England was occupied by the French, and it was chic, in society, to speak of the things one ate in Gallic terms. Hence, porc ->; pork, veau -> veal, boeuf -> beef. The farmyard terms were left to describe the animal. It is true in French, too, that the more elegant term still hangs on for porc, which is a cochon on the hoof. We also still use the term 'pullet' for chicken; it comes from poulet.

[Slayer Dug]

[Aggie]

Many of my cattle are part French.