# "Pet Goat" and other animals **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 5, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611 "2004-10-05T05:17:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/21 "2004-10-05T17:39:00Z")
sniveling brats? ---
**Author:** ![Spree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Spree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spree)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/22 "2004-10-05T17:46:55Z")
> [@New Iskander](#): > > So is there a book in the world that would improve that picture? Not really. Bush’s actions on that day are the real picture. “My Pet Goat” jokes are a lagniappe. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/23 "2004-10-05T18:04:50Z")
People quit hijacking, the OP has merely asked for the anti-Bush crowd’s children’s reading list suggestions. Why all the hostility? I also had “A wrinkle in Time” read to me. Also “Treasure Island”, I forget what age I was. Honestly, The Pet Goat" has a pretty abismal moral. The goat can do whatever he likes as long as he butts bad guys in the ass? Sounds like someone I knows foreign policy. ;)(Oh, I’m sure someone’s said that already) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/24 "2004-10-05T19:33:38Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > People quit hijacking, the OP has merely asked for the anti-Bush crowd’s children’s reading list suggestions. Any of [these](http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm) would do. A Wrinkle in Time made the banworthy list at #22. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/25 "2004-10-05T20:18:08Z")
**Squink:** _Any of these would do._ Er, you may not have noticed that that’s a list of books that have been “challenged” in **both school and general public libraries** , so it includes a number of books not really suitable for children. Unless you’re telling us that you **would** read to an elementary school class from A. N. Roquelaure’s S&M erotic novels _The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy_ (#53 on the list) or _The New Joy of Gay Sex_ (#28). My stars, that’s a little too permissive even for liberal ol’ me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/26 "2004-10-05T20:27:55Z")
> [@Spree](#): > > Not really. Bush’s actions on that day are the real picture. “My Pet Goat” jokes are a lagniappe. 😉 [hijack] Hopefully one of our Cajun Dopers can come along with a definitive answer, but isn’t “a lagniappe” redundant? I understand “langiappe” to mean “a little something extra”. So “a lagnaippe” would be “a a little something extra,” no? (I’d also imagine that it’s more correctly written “l’angiappe” - which would include the “a” part of that). [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![New\_Iskander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/db5fbb/32.png) [@New\_Iskander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Iskander)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/27 "2004-10-05T20:37:22Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Any of [these](http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm) would do. Hey, “Heather has two mommies” is #11, so I’m way ahead of all of you. Although I wish I picked “Daddy’s roommate” (#2). But deep inside I crave for #19. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/28 "2004-10-05T20:41:58Z")
> [@New Iskander](#): > > So is there a book in the world that would improve that picture? Yeah, it’s called “Get The Fuck Off Your Ass and Do Something - For Dummies”. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/29 "2004-10-05T20:47:29Z")
**Munch** , “lagniappe” is from “la ñapa”; see the etymology below. And I don’t see why we would have to omit an indefinite article (“a”) just because the word is derived from a foreign phrase that includes a definite article (“the”). Is it redundant to say “an alligator” because “alligator” comes from Spanish “el lagarto”, which has the definite article “el” in it? > [@](#): > > **lagniappe** > [Louisiana French, from American Spanish la ñapa, the gift : la, the (from Latin illa, feminine of ille, that, the. See al-1 in Indo-European Roots) + ñapa(variant of yapa, gift, from Quechua, from yapay, to give more).] ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/30 "2004-10-05T20:52:18Z")
> [@New Iskander](#): > > So is there a book in the world that would improve that picture? > [@Squink](#): > > Any of [these](http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm) would do. A Wrinkle in Time made the banworthy list at #22. Well, if he’d have been reading to them from _The Anarchist’s Cookbook_ (#57), it would make a whole different kind of picture. Maybe not better, exactly. But different. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/31 "2004-10-05T20:52:53Z")
Thanks. And looking at my post, I have to :smack:, because it doesn’t include an “a”, it has a “the”. Or something. If anyone needs me, I’ll just be reading this here book… ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/32 "2004-10-05T20:59:08Z")
From the list cited by Squink, I loved #25 “In the Night Kitchen” by Maurice Sendak. It’s gret fun, and would be age-appropriate. (The reason why it’s challenged is probably because the hero spends some of the time in the book lacking clothing. And that would be a reason why Dubya wouldn’t want to read it in public). ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/33 "2004-10-05T21:01:59Z")
> [@Spree](#): > > Well, some things are situationally funny - only funny in a certain context, dig? > > GWB reading “My Pet Goat” to a classroom on a normal day = cute and harmless. > > GWB reading “My Pet Goat” to a classroom, with the full knowledge that terrorist attacks are occuring on U.S. soil = worthy of ridicule, and comedic in a sad and bitter sort of way. > > (Note that I’m not rehashing the endless “should he or shouldn’t he” seven minute scenario - just explaining why “My Pet Goat” adds an element of farce to an already ridiculous scenario, if you’re of the mind to view it as a ridiculous scenario.) Perhaps in his opinion, he did NOT want to scare the children with talk of terrorist stuff, presenting a facade of normalcy KNOWING there was NOTHING he could do at that particular time to stop the attacks. I can remember a friend taking 10 minutes to finish reading a story to his daughter after being paged to go to Desert Storm. It _might_ have been her last memory of him ever. Kudos to GWB for not scaring a class of kids. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/34 "2004-10-05T21:05:46Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Perhaps in his opinion, he did NOT want to scare the children with talk of terrorist stuff, presenting a facade of normalcy KNOWING there was NOTHING he could do at that particular time to stop the attacks. I can remember a friend taking 10 minutes to finish reading a story to his daughter after being paged to go to Desert Storm. It _might_ have been her last memory of him ever. Kudos to GWB for not scaring a class of kids. :rolleyes: No one’s demanding that Dubya run from the room screaming and telling everyone to duck and cover. Is it not asking so much to do as Czarcasm mentioned above, and politely excuse himself from the room to get more information and do his job? For all he knew, staying in a classroom made that entire school a terrorist target. ---
**Author:** ![Spree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Spree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spree)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/35 "2004-10-05T21:15:13Z")
**Munch** , to be honest, I just really like the word! I really only ever hear it in an informal setting, but when I hear it used it (mostly in New Orleans) it takes the article. Thanks to **Kimstu** for providing a smarter answer than I could. > [@aruvqan](#): > > Perhaps in his opinion, he did NOT want to scare the children with talk of terrorist stuff, presenting a facade of normalcy KNOWING there was NOTHING he could do at that particular time to stop the attacks. I can remember a friend taking 10 minutes to finish reading a story to his daughter after being paged to go to Desert Storm. It _might_ have been her last memory of him ever. Kudos to GWB for not scaring a class of kids. Ahem. > [@spree](#): > > (Note that I’m not rehashing the endless “should he or shouldn’t he” seven minute scenario - just explaining why “My Pet Goat” adds an element of farce to an already ridiculous scenario, if you’re of the mind to view it as a ridiculous scenario.) You can do a search and find plenty of threads that have already addressed your post in mind-numbing repetition. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/36 "2004-10-05T21:26:58Z")
[sarcasm and disgust that this stupid topic has been brought up again] But we all **know** that whatever the president had done, the usual gang of liberal idiots would have attacked him for it. [/sarcasm and disgust that this stupid topic has been brought up again] ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/37 "2004-10-05T22:22:11Z")
New Isky’s a Liberal now? When’d that happen? :wally ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/38 "2004-10-05T22:33:43Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Perhaps in his opinion, he did NOT want to scare the children with talk of terrorist stuff, presenting a facade of normalcy KNOWING there was NOTHING he could do at that particular time to stop the attacks. I can remember a friend taking 10 minutes to finish reading a story to his daughter after being paged to go to Desert Storm. It _might_ have been her last memory of him ever. Kudos to GWB for not scaring a class of kids. And this is why he doesn’t get my vote. The first thing I look for in a presidential candidate is the ability and the willingness to scare young children. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/39 "2004-10-05T22:41:49Z")
:eek: You’re voting for Freddy Kruger? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![New\_Iskander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/db5fbb/32.png) [@New\_Iskander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Iskander)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611/40 "2004-10-05T23:18:45Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > New Isky’s a Liberal now? When’d that happen? :wally [sheepishly] Actually, I was always a Liberal. [/sheepishly] [arrogantly] Only one of [those Liberals](http://www.agerits.com/php/order.php3?bnr=23027). [/arrogantly] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-goat-and-other-animals/267611.md?page=3)