Comments on: How the cow ate the cabbage http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/ Semper Ubi Sub Ubi Wed, 28 Apr 2021 23:37:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.1 By: Mark Myers http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-956373 Wed, 03 Feb 2021 19:46:47 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-956373 Joe, Texas is right, you are wrong, cattle do not have upper incisors, instead, they have a dental pad or browsing pad, a feature of ruminant dental anatomy that results from a lack of upper incisors and helps them gather large quantities of grass and other plant matter. This feature can be found in ruminants such as cattle and sheep. In cattle, the tongue is used to grasp food and pinch it off between the dental pad and the lower incisors. However, since they cannot bite grass off, they are inefficient at grazing more closely than 6 inches (15 cm) from the ground.

]]> By: Mark Myers http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-956372 Wed, 03 Feb 2021 19:41:41 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-956372 “Go see the elephant also meant go conduct business with a prostitute.”

Actually the phrase dates back to at least the Mexican-American War, where “he’s seen the elephant” meant a new soldier had finally experienced battle for the first time. The phrase originates from when traveling circuses used to travel around the country, much to the anticipation of young children in rural towns. They had heard about the circus from older people who remembered the last time the circus came, especially about the elephants, which would have been the biggest attraction. Once they had “seen the elephant,” they felt more worldy. Similarly, having been in battle, even if just once, was enough to separate a battle veteran from a new recruit.

]]> By: Lauren http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-806217 Fri, 09 Aug 2019 00:09:19 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-806217 To say “that’s how the cow ate the cabbage” is to say how someone speaks frankly; there are no mincing of words.It is a description of one speaking clearly, as we would say now, transparent. But most people , in general, don’t like it. I love it

]]> By: Jan Blankenship http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-793731 Tue, 30 Apr 2019 03:23:46 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-793731 I, too, grew up from a Texas heritage and often heard the phrase when growing up. However, punch line is “how” the cow ate the cabbage when asked by the sheriff and the nearsighted farmer said “If I told you where he is stuffing that cabbage, you’ll never believe me!” Assuming the trunk was a tail, you can imagine where he thought it was being “ stuffed.”

]]> By: Monica McCarthy http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-663267 Sat, 24 Feb 2018 06:57:15 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-663267 My granny was from Alabama and I’ve heard her say that since I was a child. (I’m 64 now and granny passed in 1986.) I have said that all of my adult life! People look at me like I’m nuts! I knew what it meant…but I never knew the story behind it until you fine folk we’re kind enough to let all of us know! Thank you!

]]> By: aeolius http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-654210 Sat, 30 Dec 2017 20:56:58 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-654210 If you go back to what the old lady thought she saw was an animal using its tail to eat the cabbage. If she thought it was a cow tail, then just where do you think she had to imagine the cabbage was going? Which she could not allow herself to describe.

]]> By: linda http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-571939 Tue, 19 Sep 2017 23:48:25 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-571939 I always heard it as “how the pig ate the cabbage”. I learned it very young from my grandpa who was from southern Missouri.

]]> By: Thom Childress http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-200543 Thu, 29 Oct 2015 12:57:43 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-200543 Came from Robert Bakewell. The man who fed the industrial revolution.

]]> By: Lisa http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-197247 Tue, 20 Oct 2015 03:50:05 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-197247 Roger all of that!
Best,
lk

]]> By: Lisa http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-197246 Tue, 20 Oct 2015 03:48:22 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-197246 Dear Kenneth,
Interesting that you check spelling and not grammar. In the sentence you wrote below it should have been “checked” not “check”.

On August 29, 2014Kenneth McLaws wrote:
I don’t mean to be critical but just check your spelling of alternative.

I guess you are just “Practically Perfect in Every Way” like Mary Poppins and the rest of us.

Best,
lk

]]> By: Mesa, Arizona http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-183918 Sat, 26 Sep 2015 19:06:31 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-183918 Not just cattle, sheep and goats, but all 192 living species of ruminants — antelopes, giraffes, pronghorn antelopes, deer, musk deer and tiny chevrotains (mouse deer) have no upper front teeth….

]]> By: Ron http://www.word-detective.com/2010/01/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/comment-page-1/#comment-99664 Mon, 04 May 2015 19:02:52 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/2009/07/15/how-the-cow-ate-the-cabbage/#comment-99664 I was born in 1936 and grew up in Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri and heard variants of this, but our family used it as “I’ll tell you how the Bull ate the cabbage” meaning I’ll tell it like it is. Whether you like it or not, that’s the unvarnished truth.

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