jun tan tec: Oh, Mongoose!

jun tan tec

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Oh, Mongoose!

A man wrote a letter asking a pet store for two mongooses. But the word did not look right, so he changed it to two mongeese. That did not look right either, so he wrote, "Please send me one mongoose. And while you're at it, send me another one."

If the plural of mongoose is hard to remember, the names that distinguish the young of one kind of animal from the young of another kind are even harder:

ANIMAL OFFSPRING

A cow has a calf, but the calf of a mare
Is a colt, and a cub is the colt of a bear;
A fawn is the cub of a deer, while the fawn
Of a beaver's a kitten, and, carrying on,
The kit of a sheep is a lamb, and the lamb
Of a wolf is a whelp, while the whelp of madame
Is a babe, and the babe of a dog is a pup,
And I thought for a while whis would wind the thing up,
But the pup of a goat is a kid, and, Mon Dieu!
A joey's the kid of a kang-kang-garoo.

¶ 10:04 AM