Cow-Tipping, Anyone?
"We are at the tipping point with spam. But with the bills before us now, I fear we will be on the wrong side of the cow."d
-- David Sorkin, Associate Professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, quoted in NYT story "Finding a Solution to the Secret World of Spam". (05/05/2003)
Got the Gladwell regerence, but what's the cow thing? Inquiring Ruminatrices want to know......
For the record, cattle-tipping is a Midwest fratboy prank. Cows sleep standing up, and can be easily snuck up on and tipped over by a small group of giggling drunks. The animals wake up on the ground in a confused daze. (Depicted in Heathers.) Sorkin's quip reminds us one could be flattened if you're on the wrong side of the tipped entity. Very witty!
cow tipping, an urban legend?
Jeez, this city kid thought the cow part was about milking the cow from the wrong side. Never mind
Ha! I repeated the legend almost word for word, except for the detail about the cows having their legs locked. I heard about it when I lived in Texas, but from city boys, so there you go.
Having spent time around cattle, both as a child on my grandparents farm near Nacadoches Texas and as an adult while hiking Mission Peak in California, I can say that cows retain enough of the wariness of their wild ancestors to avoid being snuck up upon at night by drunken carnivores.
I was once enlisted by Buc, the foreman during my ranch hand days, to capture a day old, uh, whaddaya call 'em, a cowlet? yeah sure, that's what we called them, and I have to say that after much skinning of knees and elbows I can add catching little baby cows to the things I have failed at. Other times I have roamed cow pastures for other reasons and have found it not tempting at all to try and sneak up on those large, mostly docile animals. But put in the context of Midwest Fratboy Prank, I would not put anything past those animals.
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-- David Sorkin, Associate Professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, quoted in NYT story "Finding a Solution to the Secret World of Spam". (05/05/2003)
Got the Gladwell regerence, but what's the cow thing? Inquiring Ruminatrices want to know......
- bruno 5-05-2003 10:14 pm
For the record, cattle-tipping is a Midwest fratboy prank. Cows sleep standing up, and can be easily snuck up on and tipped over by a small group of giggling drunks. The animals wake up on the ground in a confused daze. (Depicted in Heathers.) Sorkin's quip reminds us one could be flattened if you're on the wrong side of the tipped entity. Very witty!
- tom moody 5-05-2003 10:22 pm
cow tipping, an urban legend?
- dave 5-05-2003 10:23 pm
Jeez, this city kid thought the cow part was about milking the cow from the wrong side. Never mind
- bruno 5-05-2003 10:26 pm
Ha! I repeated the legend almost word for word, except for the detail about the cows having their legs locked. I heard about it when I lived in Texas, but from city boys, so there you go.
- tom moody 5-05-2003 10:30 pm
Having spent time around cattle, both as a child on my grandparents farm near Nacadoches Texas and as an adult while hiking Mission Peak in California, I can say that cows retain enough of the wariness of their wild ancestors to avoid being snuck up upon at night by drunken carnivores.
- mark 5-06-2003 3:16 am
I was once enlisted by Buc, the foreman during my ranch hand days, to capture a day old, uh, whaddaya call 'em, a cowlet? yeah sure, that's what we called them, and I have to say that after much skinning of knees and elbows I can add catching little baby cows to the things I have failed at. Other times I have roamed cow pastures for other reasons and have found it not tempting at all to try and sneak up on those large, mostly docile animals. But put in the context of Midwest Fratboy Prank, I would not put anything past those animals.
- jimlouis 5-06-2003 3:27 pm