"Cow-Worker" Is Not a Misspelling

I confess. I cannot claim credit for this hyphenate. "Cow-worker" is ™ Steve Berg, aka the Berg Man of Alcatraz. Berg is an acquaintance from my old-stylee on-line community, Echo. Echo is so old-fashioned it has no web interface. If you love command-lines, Echo is for you. On Echo, when someone creates a witty turn of phrase, or even a typo that seems apt, the word or phrase becomes "™ the person who created it." Sometimes a ™ gets applied to a certain phrase whose repetetive use becomes associated with a particular member of the community. So, for example, "customoron" would be ™ me. "Cow-worker" has entered into such common usage on Echo that almost no one ever spells it correctly anymore.

But I digress. I was going to explain why I call me colleagues at Big Bookstore "cow-workers." Partly it's because after spending years on Echo, I can't shake the habit of typing "cow-worker" rather than "co-worker". But I also like it because it implies that we are all corporate cattle. You may bristle at being called a cow, but, hey - I'm part of the herd too. And as herds of cattle go we are, for the most part, a pretty intelligent, educated and diverse group of bovines.

I love most of my fellow cows. As I say, it's great herd. Nonetheless, there's no getting around the fact that there are a couple of cows that are just not that smart. I'm thinking of one steer in particular, who can't seem to master the alphabet, and consequently fucks up the shelves I so meticulously maintain in the Art section. He'll be first up the ramp into the slaughterhouse, if I have my way.

Moo.