# Why do the male cows on "Back at the Barnyard" have udders? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 6, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194 "2008-04-06T17:33:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/21 "2008-04-06T23:26:03Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Grimly, Merriam-Webster’s agrees with you. As I cannot let this illogic stand, I am hereby renouncing my renouncing of my ambitions for world conquest. Third on my agenda after the conquest will be making referring to “male cows” punishable by death. Now if you’ll excuse me I have an army of undead cyborg winged venomous flame-spitting howler monkeys to raise. [/QUOTE] :eek: Now I don’t know what to do. 😕 My mind is awhirl with a combination of terror, amusement, admiration, and curiosity: what are the first two items on your agenda? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/22 "2008-04-06T23:34:49Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Grimly, Merriam-Webster’s agrees with you. As I cannot let this illogic stand, I am hereby renouncing my renouncing of my ambitions for world conquest. Third on my agenda after the conquest will be making referring to “male cows” punishable by death. Now if you’ll excuse me I have an army of undead cyborg winged venomous flame-spitting howler monkeys to raise. [/QUOTE] Did you know that in the olden days, they used to refer to a bulls as a “gentleman cow” or “male cow” because the word “bull” was considered vulgar? > [@H.L. Mencken's "The American Language"](#): > > [A]t one time, even bull was banned as too vulgar for refined ears. In place of it the early purists used cow-creature, male-cow and even gentleman-cow. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/23 "2008-04-06T23:36:53Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] That movie really annoyed me. Fortunately we saw it on DVD so I didn’t offend other theater goers with my constant exclamations that male cattle do not have udders. [/QUOTE] What about your kids and spouse? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/24 "2008-04-06T23:38:05Z")
[QUOTE=vison] :eek: Now I don’t know what to do. 😕 My mind is awhirl with a combination of terror, amusement, admiration, and curiosity: what are the first two items on your agenda? [/QUOTE] Yeah, like I’d tell you guys that. Dio’s the OP, and he’s on the side of good; he’d totally narc me out to Batman. [QUOTE=jayjay] Did you know that in the olden days, they used to refer to a bulls as a “gentleman cow” or “male cow” because the word “bull” was considered vulgar? [/QUOTE] I have already ADMITTED to being wrong. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a lair to rebuild. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/25 "2008-04-06T23:55:14Z")
I’m no expert in cattle biology, but I also was under the impression that cows also don’t talk. ---
**Author:** ![Pixilated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aeb1de/32.png) [@Pixilated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixilated)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/26 "2008-04-07T00:17:31Z")
Now the real question should be - If a male had female parts, would he actually leave his room??? =) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/27 "2008-04-07T00:19:43Z")
[QUOTE=Charger] Maybe it’s a censorship thing. If the bulls are not castrated, they should have giant scrotums there instead. Also, these would be difficult to animate during running scenes. [/QUOTE] Oh it’s not THAT difficult. [**Pom Poko**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110008/) features anthropomorphic raccoons with very prominent scrotums. At one point they even use their nut-sacks as cudgels to beat the crap out of some police in riot gear. I’m sure \*\*Barnyard \*\* could have done something similar. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/28 "2008-04-07T01:47:44Z")
[QUOTE=Tengu] What about your kids and spouse? [/QUOTE] No kids and my S.O. has no room to complain about _my_ talking during movies. I almost had to reenact Sweeney Todd on him the other night. [QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Grimly, Merriam-Webster’s agrees with you. As I cannot let this illogic stand, I am hereby renouncing my renouncing of my ambitions for world conquest. Third on my agenda after the conquest will be making referring to “male cows” punishable by death. Now if you’ll excuse me I have an army of undead cyborg winged venomous flame-spitting howler monkeys to raise. [/QUOTE] Well, I am glad I said “male cattle”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/29 "2008-04-07T02:38:29Z")
> [@](#): > > My question is why is this show doing this? Are they actually just that stupid that they think male cows have udders? Has no one, at any point in the production of either the movie or the TV show ever pointed this out to the animators? Have they ever been asked about this? It drives me nuts when my kids have the show on. I’m still anoyed about the four-legged ants in _A Bug’s Life_. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/30 "2008-04-07T03:12:31Z")
According to the IMDB: > [@](#): > > Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Yes, the male cattle have udders; it’s a joke. And: > [@](#): > > The “male” bovines having udders was explained in the October 2006 issue of Nickelodeon’s official magazine, “Nick Magazine”. In the letters page, one reader asked about the anatomically-incorrect cows(bovine) and whether or not it was intentional or not, and the magazine explained that the movie’s director “thought it would be funny for the male cows(bulls) to have udders”. [Linky.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414853/trivia) So they did it on purpose to be funny. Yeah, it’s hysterical. :rolleyes: I found it distractingly stupid, personally. Good thing it was just on Showtime and I could change the channel to something less annoying, like _Rock of Love_ or something. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/31 "2008-04-07T03:53:09Z")
[QUOTE=VernWinterbottom] My seven-and-a-half-year-old daughter says it’s because, “it’s just a **show** and it doesn’t really matter.” [/QUOTE] Unless someone comes up with a better answer, this one wins the thread. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/32 "2008-04-07T04:29:02Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Did you know that in the olden days, they used to refer to a bulls as a “gentleman cow” or “male cow” because the word “bull” was considered vulgar? [/QUOTE] Hm. I grew up in the olden days and I don’t remember that. :dubious: Actually, in the USA that might have been true in the Victorian Era - it was in the USA that the word “cock” was abandoned in favour of “rooster”, and where, one reads, that the ultrarefined put little lace stockings on piano legs, and the breast of a cooked fowl became “white meat”. Young ladies were advised not to sit on a chair that a gentleman had recently sat upon, for fear the chair might still be warm from his . . um . . . bottom. In England the male chicken is still called a cock, likewise the male pheasant and who knows what other bird, and Queen Victoria was not very Victorian, herself. And those sophisticated and supposedly unblushing French call a brassiere a “soutien gorge” or “throat supporter” so poo on them, too. (Always wanted to bring the _soutien gorge_ into a discussion but never could until this very moment.) While a woman’s breasts are sometimes referred to as “tits”, the word ought to be spelled as “teats”, as “teats” is properly pronounced as “tits” but generation upon generation of boys would be confused - their interest not lying precisely in the spelling of the items. So, a cow’s udder generally has four teats or quarters and a bull, the noble and lordly man cow, generally does not. I hope y’all notice how I drug my verbosity back on topic? ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/33 "2008-04-07T04:53:34Z")
Well done, **vison**. 😃 [QUOTE=Pochacco] Oh it’s not THAT difficult. Pom Poko features anthropomorphic raccoons with very prominent scrotums. At one point they even use their nut-sacks as cudgels to beat the crap out of some police in riot gear. [/QUOTE] Those wacky Japanese! So, what’s the fixation on nicknames for castrated male animals? Why can’t bulls be bulls and stallions be stallions. Gelding just sounds so…demeaning. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/34 "2008-04-07T06:45:26Z")
[QUOTE=Brown Eyed Girl] So, what’s the fixation on nicknames for castrated male animals? Why can’t bulls be bulls and stallions be stallions. Gelding just sounds so…demeaning. [/QUOTE] Think of it as industrial labelling. A stallion has different uses than a gelding - for one, it can be used for breeding - or a cow, and is therefore listed differently. I mean, you wouldn’t call a harvester and a bulldozer by the same name, even though they’re both tractors. Look at it this way: Stallion - insemination, riding (high maintenance). Gelding - energy, riding Mare - breeding, energy, riding Cow - milk, meat, breeding Bull - insemination, meat Ox - energy … and so forth. Stop thinking of farm animals as animals and start thinking of them as inventory. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/35 "2008-04-07T08:04:04Z")
That night Farmer Brown was kept awake by the sounds from the barn. Click Clack Moo. Click Clack Moo. Clickity Clack Moo. The following morning, duck (being a neutral party) handed Farmer Brown a note: “Dear Farmer Brown, We are unhappy cows. We demand hormones and surgery to become comfortable in our own hides. Also, sequined dresses. Sincerly, The Cows” ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/36 "2008-04-07T11:11:37Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Did you know that in the olden days, they used to refer to a bulls as a “gentleman cow” or “male cow” because the word “bull” was considered vulgar? [/QUOTE] You know, Mencken was often exaggerating the prudery of his contemporaries to make a satirical point in his newspaper columns. And he has been whooshing Americans for generations since. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/37 "2008-04-07T12:11:10Z")
[QUOTE=Alessan] … and so forth. Stop thinking of farm animals as animals and start thinking of them as inventory. [/QUOTE] Aww, I’m a city girl. The notion is as foreign to me as thinking my pets are not my actual family. 😉 But, yeah, I get your point. Poor, emasculated geldings. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/38 "2008-04-07T13:40:59Z")
[QUOTE=Ruffian] So they did it on purpose to be funny. Yeah, it’s hysterical. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] You mean like doing the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/39 "2008-04-07T13:44:14Z")
Han _still_ shot first. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194/40 "2008-04-07T14:05:53Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius] You know, Mencken was often exaggerating the prudery of his contemporaries to make a satirical point in his newspaper columns. And he has been whooshing Americans for generations since. [/QUOTE] Yes, but that quote comes from _The American Language_, which has no connection to Mencken’s columns. It’s one of the few Mencken works that can legitimately be called “scholarly”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-male-cows-on-back-at-the-barnyard-have-udders/444194.md?page=3)