# Whozat orking all those defenseless cows? (Very lame rant) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 2, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075 "2004-05-02T00:54:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/1 "2004-05-02T00:54:06Z")
I don’t want to name names, but quite a few individuals on these boards who wish to describe a person who works with or beside them describe instead a person doing some ungodly thing to a poor, defenseless bovine. Cow tipping is bad enough, but orking those poor critters is just going too far. Almost as cruel as goat-felching, if ya ask me. I know I’ve had co-workers who misplaced their hyphens, too, and I did my best to straighten them out. Gently. By example only. The proper word is spelled either co-worker or coworker (note the missing hyphen). Pleeze! I dont wanna se anymore mispeling! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/2 "2004-05-02T00:59:56Z")
It’s intentional. One of the board in-jokes. I think originally someone, much like you, got sick of people who misspe- mispe- didn’t spell the word “co-worker” right- and then cow-orker became the official Straight Dope spelling of the word somehow. Really, on a board like this, you didn’t think that many people were screwing up repeatedly, did you? One of the regulars can probably fill in names, places, and details, but I’m pretty sure them’s the basics. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/3 "2004-05-02T01:17:02Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s intentional. One of the board in-jokes. It’s hardly an in-joke… See [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow-orker): > [@](#): > > This term was popularized by Scott Adams (the creator of Dilbert) but already appears in the January 1996 version of the scary devil monastery FAQ. There are plausible reports that it was in use on Usenet as early as 1989. It doesn’t bother me, but I’m quite sure I’ve seen others on this board rant about it in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/4 "2004-05-02T01:24:02Z")
OK. It’s an internet joke. Point is, the hyphenation is intentionally incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/5 "2004-05-02T01:29:48Z")
Whoa! :smack: Did the OP really think it was all accidental? Consider me whooshed. Hi Jimmy, I feel like we’re having a private conversation here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/6 "2004-05-02T01:56:17Z")
I think the OP probably did. Otherwise it would be a joke thread, and nobody wants that. Apparently, Lily, we are. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/7 "2004-05-02T02:28:48Z")
:: wanders into thread :: Oh, hi, **Jimmy, Lily**! Fancy meeting you here. Say, have you seen a guy named **Geezer** around here recently? I hear **Lynn** was looking for him. Something about this is no joke, or sumpin… :: wanders off :: ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/8 "2004-05-02T02:53:07Z")
Ahh, so the foot’s on the other hand now, is it? That whooshing sound was me, mayhap? Nevertheless, I maintain the OP seems legit. I’ve been wrong before, though- is there a word for being whooshed, backing up and going through the wind tunnel again? ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/9 "2004-05-02T03:28:14Z")
Sounded legitimate to me. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/10 "2004-05-02T03:43:25Z")
> [@Jimmy Chitwood](#): > > - is there a word for being whooshed, backing up and going through the wind tunnel again? Maybe “Four More Years!” you think? ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/11 "2004-05-02T06:15:40Z")
All right, already! Color me embar-assed. I really did think there were a number of Dopers who thought that was the correct spelling. But it wasn’t a real grammar Nazi rant. Didn’t you notice the (ahem!) jokes in there? And the smiley? **County** , after our last tangle I’m surprised you didn’t take a bigger swing at me. Does this mean we can still be friends, hmmmmm? I didn’t really mean to whoosh anybody. I was just bored. Mods, you can sew this thread up if you want. It’s not going to break any records anyway (unless it’s one of the shortest). I shall move on to greener pastures, and, hopefully not greener jokes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/12 "2004-05-02T06:47:53Z")
I may owe everybody an apology. I suspect it might have been me that caused the whole mess. A couple of years ago, when I went by **beeblebrox** \*, I posted into a thread in which somebody was bitching about their job. They consistently used the term “coworkers” and I jokingly asked if anybody else read that word as “cow orkers”. Jokes about how exactly one would go about orking a cow followed, and I was amused. But I had wrought by that small joke. Mind you, I’m not _sure_ that it was me that introduced the term into the local zeitguist, but I know that my use of it was my own creation, and I hadn’t heard it before. It’s certainly possible that the term originated independantly from somewhere, and I just happened to think of the same thing. But I wonder… I’m sick of “Og” too, and I remember where that originated. (A typo of “God” by the infamous **lolo**.) I never use either term, and am ashamed to think that I may have caused a similar verbal infliction on the board. \*I used to be called **Beeblebrox** , but **A Monkey With A Gun** is not a sock. The honorable **TubaDiva** granted me a name change. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/13 "2004-05-02T06:49:58Z")
“But I had no idea what I had wrought by that samll joke” preview, monkey, _preview_ ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/14 "2004-05-02T13:29:52Z")
> [@DesertGeezer](#): > > **County** , after our last tangle I’m surprised you didn’t take a bigger swing at me. Does this mean we can still be friends, hmmmmm? Sure, now that you are admitting that I was right. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/15 "2004-05-02T13:34:10Z")
You know, if I had actually _read_ the thread instead of posting half drunk on a late Saturday night, I would have realized something I already knew. I’m an idiot. Good to know that I wasn’t the source of it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/16 "2004-05-02T13:51:10Z")
The use of Cow-orker is annoying in the extreme. It wasn’t funny when Scott Adams started it and it hasn’t aged well. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/17 "2004-05-02T16:46:32Z")
And besides, most people are more like sheep than cows, anyway. “Baa-workers”? ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/18 "2004-05-02T16:56:14Z")
> [@county](#): > > Sure, now that you are admitting that I was right. Bite your tongue! (Break your fingers?) 😉 ---
**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:** [May 2, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/19 "2004-05-02T16:59:56Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > And besides, most people are more like sheep than cows, anyway. “Baa-workers”? No, those would be “sheeple”. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075/20 "2004-05-02T17:31:33Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > I’m sick of “Og” too, and I remember where that originated. (A typo of “God” by the infamous **lolo**.) I never use either term, and am ashamed to think that I may have caused a similar verbal infliction on the board. The Og thing also dates back to the USENET days. Haj [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whozat-orking-all-those-defenseless-cows-very-lame-rant/243075.md?page=2)