The name of my site is based on the popular phrase, “How now, brown cow,” which, to my knowledge, comes from an old poem which starts, “How now, brown cow, grazing in the green, green grass.”
Update: Used in elocution teaching to demonstrate rounded vowel sounds.
I’ve never found a copy of the full poem, which I’m understandably eager to peruse. A quick search turns up only passing allusions to said text, but nothing full or pertinent. I did, however, find this cute little stanza by Alice Schertle, surprisingly evocative in its simplicity, from a children’s book titled after the phrase I so love:
The Cow, by Alice Schertle
You come across her standing there
as common as a box. As square.
Her lower jaw revolves the cud;
her hooves stand foursquare in the mud.
Come closer. View with mild surprise
the gentle softness of her eyes.
Cute, eh? Look for a cow layout sometime soon.