Animal verbs

Animals are basic part of human existence and vocabulary.  Even in our modern era, small children immediately learn words to distinguish animals from people.  So, it is no wonder that many animals have lent their name to a behavior, albeit without their permission.

The farmyard is the dream place for behaviorists.  They can see horses horse around, running and mock fighting as well as pigs pig out, eating all they can. If those horses get lazy, dogs will dog them while hounds will hound them to get them moving again. Not all is fun and games. The goat goats you while the ram rams you for no reason at all, not to mention the goose goosing you, which can give you quite a jump. It is not all that wonderful for the animals, to tell the truth.  The cows feel cowed by just about everything despite their large size while chickens chicken out from any confrontation from a non-fowl, maybe for a good reason. All this action is at the doorstep of farmer.

Not that is much quieter in the wild. The weasel try to weasel his way into anywhere there is food, using his intelligence. The hawk hawks all the best food for himself, often being the apex bird of prey. The wolf wolves down its food since it has to share it with its group. A buffalo can buffalo its way into any field. By contrast, a fox has to outfox its prey or dies. A duck ducks when it hears a rifle shot, as it should. On a more relaxed level, monkeys monkey around when they are not looking for food, as when an ape apes a behavior, imitating it. Those deer are just as active. Bucks buck the system and try to steal away the does while fawns fawn to those same does to ensure that they receive milk and protection. Parrots parrot the behavior of other animals to gain an advantage.  We won't even talk about what the bears bear.

Don't underestimate the insect kingdom.  As anybody who has ever tried to take a nap during the day, flies fly, making it sometimes hard to kill them. Worms can generally worm themselves into anywhere, including our skin. Leaches, both the insect and people versions, leech our energy and health. These critters are not friendly.

So, the next time you are slothful, are tired of the bull or even in a foul or catty mood, look outside in the yard or at a nature documentary.  You will realize that, as they say in that awful British commercial for a credit company, you are not alone. 

Horsing around

Horses were once had a vital role in human life, used as a primary means of transportation and the main source of power in agriculture.  Although they have lost those roles, their legacy remains in the English language.

We still refer to the purpose of many parts of the horse and its equipment. If a person is champing at the bit, s/he is eager to get started or involved, the bit being the part in the horse's mouth. For that matter, unbridled enthusiasm is not tempered by caution since a bridle limits a horse's movement.  In that case, someone has to rein in, i.e. pull back or restrict the freedom of movement.  Sometimes, the opposite is necessary, meaning you to have to spur someone on, referring to the sharp point at the end of a cowboy boot used to get the horse to run faster.  To help focus, horses and athletes need blinders to avoid being distracted.  Of course, it is hard to be calm if you are saddled with worries or debts. Many people almost succeed but it has no meaning since almost doesn't count unless in horseshoes and hand grenades, the former being a game in which you try to throw a horse as close as possible to a stick, a bit like les boules in France. If you have to hoof it, you got to walk, which has nothing to do with hoof in mouth disease, not thinking before speaking and making embarrassing comments.

Even in general, the horse maintains its presence in language. Engines are measured by horsepower, technically 550 foot-pounds per second. If someone tells you to hold your horses, you need to stop immediately, with an image of an out-of-control four horse carriage popping up.  Before an eagerly awaited date, many guys are hot to trot, all sexually excited.  Of course, an employee can be a workhorse, strong and dependable, or even a thoroughbred, carrying all the right genes to be a top manger.  Still, they may need a hand up, some help, derived from assistance to getting up on a horse.  In the end, all employees are put out to pasture and retired, which is not always a bad thing. After all, you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, meaning you don't ask questions about gifts.   That assumes that you have any horse sense, which is basic wisdom so common in horses and rare in humans.

To end on a proper note, to quote Cuthbert Soup, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him participate in synchronized diving.”