Sitting here with Dad in Bodega Bay listening to the cows “moo,” I asked him, “Hey Dad, why do cows moo?” He did something that he’s never done before. He paused and said, “I don’t know.”
Now, you have to understand that my father is one of the smartest men on the planet and he always has an answer for everything. I was surprised that he didn’t know the answer to this one, but I loved the fact that he cheerfully admitted he didn’t know the answer. He said it with a certain sense of puzzlement and curiosity, which ultimately propelled me to look it up online.
So then I Googled, “why do cows moo,” and there were some interesting responses. The standard answers were that they’re just communicating, they want to be milked, there’s another animal coming, they’re expressing themselves, etc., but here are some other online answers:
· Because, if they made the sound of a carrot the rabbits would eat them
· Because woof, meow, neigh and squeal were already taken.
· Because they have a hard time getting their tongue around their mouths to say the sound “N.” If they could we’d know they are not trying to say “moo,” but really trying to say “Moon.” Few people know the cow is actually from the moon, and they migrated to earth to bring us tasty cheese (the moon is made of cheese). Hence the rhyme “…the cow jumped over the moon.”
· 95% of a cow’s gas comes out when a cow moos, so a moo is partially a form of burping.
· Because they can.
· Because the sheep already had dibs on ‘Baaah’ and the pigs had dibs on ‘Oink.’
· Because they can’t say “AFLAC!”
· So Old McDonald would have a song.
· To get to the other side.
· It is definitely because they want fooooood. But the ancient farmers got tired of the cows asking for fooooooood so they continued to beat them. The cows being the smart alecs they are decided to change it to mooo instead. Then the farmers got tired of beating the cows so they just gave up. Pretty soon it was all but forgotten, but then I uncovered this secret from the Government, along with the fact that Abraham Lincoln was actually a Yettie and it was the Yettiesburg address instead of the Gettysburg address. But that is a story for another time.
· Moo is short for “moon”, and cows like to jump over it when nobody is watching.
· Because they can’t type with their hooves.
· Because in “Cowese,” “Moo” means “Pull my finger.”
· You’re just jealous because you can’t moo.
· So they can be herd.
Written by by Susan in Bodega Bay, CA
© 2010