Ewe will know

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Hauke Reddmann - 13 Jul 2009 11:11 GMT

Does "ewe" usually refer to any female sheep in general
or more specific to a mother sheep? (I.e. it wouldn't
then be appropriate for "Chili" of German Children TV Channel,
who has a wild red wool-do, drives a stunt motorbike
and loves explosions :-)

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Hauke Reddmann <:-EX8 fc3a501@uni-hamburg.de
Nur Schufte schuften - Genie genießt.

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Peter Duncanson (BrE) - 13 Jul 2009 11:28 GMT

>Does "ewe" usually refer to any female sheep in general
>or more specific to a mother sheep? (I.e. it wouldn't
>then be appropriate for "Chili" of German Children TV Channel,
>who has a wild red wool-do, drives a stunt motorbike
>and loves explosions :-)

A "ewe" is a female sheep in general.

A young female sheep is a "ewe lamb".

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Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

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Nick Spalding - 13 Jul 2009 11:31 GMT

Hauke Reddmann wrote, in <7c0fhlF25ci0tU1@mid.dfncis.de>
on 13 Jul 2009 10:11:01 GMT:

> Does "ewe" usually refer to any female sheep in general
> or more specific to a mother sheep? (I.e. it wouldn't
> then be appropriate for "Chili" of German Children TV Channel,
> who has a wild red wool-do, drives a stunt motorbike
> and loves explosions :-)

Simply a female sheep, whether she has given birth or not.

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Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE

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Aatu Koskensilta - 15 Jul 2009 01:57 GMT

> Hauke Reddmann wrote, in <7c0fhlF25ci0tU1@mid.dfncis.de>
> on 13 Jul 2009 10:11:01 GMT:
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Simply a female sheep, whether she has given birth or not.

Some Objectivists also use "ewe" as a cutesy spelling for "you", this
being, so I've gathered, an expression of their intense (and very
rational) dislike of evil Kantians, altruists, and other sheep-like
people. It appears female sheep are especially conformist and liable to
deny that existence exists and that A is A.

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Aatu Koskensilta (aatu.koskensilta@uta.fi)

"Wovon mann nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen"
- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

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Don Phillipson - 13 Jul 2009 12:29 GMT

> Does "ewe" usually refer to any female sheep in general
> or more specific to a mother sheep?

Everyday English preserves several ancient terms for
specific types of farm animals that are nowadays used
in non-farming contexts (e.g. ewe, wether, tup, ram, lamb)
i.e. metaphorically. This feature of the English language
cannot generate a rule for identifying German TV characters.

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Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009

Ewe will know