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The thing where we have different words for animals and their meats is an artifact of how England got invaded a lot in the middle ages and the invaders brought
by paulmd 8y ago
The thing where we have different words for animals and their meats is an artifact of how England got invaded a lot in the middle ages and the invaders brought their languages with them. For example, "veal" is a Norman word, while "lamb" is Germanic.
You can certainly argue that we use them as a euphemism today, but that's not actually how they originated at all.
- benj111 8y agoAgreed.... But lamb isn't really a euphemism, it's a baby sheep.
- QuercusMax 8y agoI assume they meant calf instead of lamb. (Calf is also a germanic word.)
- benj111 8y agoAh yes, as I recall the (Germanic) Saxons grew the cows but couldn't afford to eat them, so called them cows, the Normans were the ruling elite so only saw it on their plate, thus beef. https://curiosity.com/topics/the-norman-conquest-is-why-steak-is-beef-and-not-cow-curiosity/ https://curiosity.com/topics/the-norman-conquest-is-why-stea...