You’re likely thinking of calves. Cows (though admittedly ambiguous! But usually adult female bovines) do not drink milk.

It’s insidious isn’t it?

▲

hinkley 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

If calves aren’t cows then children aren’t humans.

▲

wavemode 2 days ago | parent [-]

No, you're thinking of the term "cattle". Calves are indeed cattle. But "cow" has a specific definition - it refers to fully-grown female cattle. And the male form is "bull".

	▲	hinkley 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Have you ever been close enough to 'cattle' to smell cow shit, let alone step in it? Most farmers manage cows, and I'm not just talking about dairy farmers. Even the USDA website mostly refers to them as cows: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2025/07-25-2025.php Because managing cows is different than managing cattle. The number of bulls kept is small, and they often have to be segregated. All calves drink milk, at least until they're taken from their milk cow parents. Not a lot of male calves live long enough to be called a bull. 'Cattle' is mostly used as an adjective to describe the humans who manage mostly cows, from farm to plate or clothing. We don't even call it cattle shit. It's cow shit.
	▲	2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[deleted]

▲

miroljub 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

So, this joke works only for natives who know that calf is not cow.

▲

jon_richards 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I guess a more accessible version would be toast… what do you put in a toaster?

▲

Terretta 2 days ago | parent [-]

Here's one for you:

A funny riddle is a j-o-k-e that sounds like “joke”.

You sit in the tub for an s-o-a-k that sounds like “soak”.

So how do you spell the white of an egg?

// All of these prove humans are subject to "context priming".

	▲	kelnos 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		My brain said "y" and then I caught myself. Well done! (I suppose my context was primed both by your brain-teaser, and also the fact that we've been talking about these sorts of things. If you'd said this to me out of the blue, I probably would have spelled out all of "yolk" and thought it was correct.)
	▲	lazide 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Notably, this comment kinda broke my brain for a good 5 seconds. Good work.

▲

lazide 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Well, it works because by some common usages, a calf is a cow.

Many people use cow to mean all bovines, even if technically not correct.

▲

Terretta 2 days ago | parent [-]

Not trying to steer this but do people really use cow to mean bull?

	▲	aaronbaugher 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		No one who knows anything about cattle does, but that leaves out a lot of people these days. Polls have found people who think chocolate milk comes from brown cows, and I've heard people say they've successfully gone "cow tipping," so there's a lot of cluelessness out there.

▲

kelnos 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Colloquially, "cow" can mean a calf, bull, or (female adult) cow.

It may not be technically correct, but so what? Stop being unnecessarily pedantic.

	▲	lazide 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		In this context it is literally the necessary level of pedantic yes?