(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

This morning I did a research report on a famous man in the world of horse racing, and the SCANDAL that is his love life, which includes an ex-wife who owns a racing stable called the [Name Retracted] Stud Farm.

I just sent the report to my boss, who works across the corridor from me. A few minutes later I heard her voice drift hesitantly out of her office.

Boss: So....a stud farm...that's a...horse racing stable?
Me: Yeah, it's a breeding farm. Male horses of breeding age are put out to stud.
Boss: They're studs.
Me: I think it's where the term came from.
Boss: Oh...kay...
Me: You sound nervous.
Boss: No, I'm just...going to assume the high-level VP who's going to be looking at this report will know that...

Comments

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Your boss seriously didn't know that? I mean, it's not exactly arcane knowledge. It just never occurred to me that someone coud reach adulthood without knowing the term. The world, it is a funny place.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I was a little perplexed myself, but I've done a survey and about half my office was not aware of the original meaning of stud. IDK. I'd say they're just city slickers but well, so am I, and I knew that...

[carmy-w.livejournal.com]

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

When you combine the two (or even the THREE) items of information, the possibilities are ENDLESS!


And hey, you taught your boss something about the racing world today!

[moonwalker.livejournal.com]

I love horse racing! Curious to know which famous man with the scandalous love life. I know of one trainer who's had four wives (but not at the same time.)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

LOL! Well, I don't want to sling mud and use his actual name in case it could get me in trouble, but he's not a breeder/trainer/owner, he's involved on the racecourse and legal-admin end.

[lenta-85.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of stunned about her being so weirded out about the studs. I mean, English isn't even my first language, and I knew that. Maybe it's my horseman grandfather (not that he speaks English, the only things he can say are "Yes yes" and "I don't speak English". Which, granted, is a very good phrase to know when you don't speak English) or the semirural culture of Finland, but I'm just... awed at someone not knowing that.

[jejo763]

I came here to basically comment what you already posted. ESL, from Finland, too, but my mother's family do have a bit of a horse racing background, and I knew what that word meant originally. Otoh, I have no idea where I did learn that word. Maybe school? English lessons? Idk.

[jonaht.livejournal.com]

These comments are interesting. I wrote an artilcle the other day and also touched on it a bit for my NaNo story that what touches our personal world doesn't necessarily touches others and yet we feel it ought to somehow.
"I don’t know why things that are so important to me can mean so little to others. I believe it’s a human fallacy. We as individuals are not, each one of us, the center of the known universe. We are however the center of our own personal universe. The impacts on our lives hit our core but doesn’t radiate out as far as we imagine. So when an event affects our world, the rest of the world continues on without feeling any ripples. It is sometimes hard to remember this, especially after a traumatic event."
Now stud farming to my world is not all that important but I am sure is quite important to somebody's world. And yes, I have read about it before today.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Or in rather less profound terms, the following quotation from Red Dwarf:

Kryten: They always say the hardest part about leaving Cyberspace is realizing that the whole universe does not revolve around you.
Cat: Sure doesn't. It revolves around me!
Kochanski: Absolutely...
Cat: No. I'm serious! Look at the evidence!
Lister: What evidence?
Cat: Take food: until I bite into it, it has no taste. Even when I know what I'm gonna say, it never bores me!
Lister: You, and you alone.
Cat: And here's the kicker, all the interesting things that ever happen to me happened when I was in the room! Coincidence? Get outta here...

(Quotation lifted from IMDB (http://uk.imdb.com/character/ch0017425/quotes), any errors are theirs not mine.)

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

Ha! My clients are all horse owners, trainers, and drivers. (Harness racing.) Several times a year I get to bill out not only stud fees, but also semen shipping charges. The studs have it easy, it's the broodmares that get the, ah, not-so-short end of the stick.

[brightly-woven.livejournal.com]

*bwahahahaha*

Origin of "stud" is common knowledge, I would have thought.

[evilstorm.livejournal.com]

Have you read James Herriot's tale of semen acquisition? It remains one of the funniest animal stories I know. Poor bull. Poor vet.

[eldarwannabe.livejournal.com]

Everything I know about horses I learned from the Black Stallion books in my youth. Oh! And Man O'War. I don't think I even knew the more common definition of stud until later.

Come on, cafe. Tell me I'm not alone.

[shadoedseptmbr.livejournal.com]

You are not alone. ;) I think it used to weird my parents out a little when I would make up elaborate breeding records for my model horses based on what I learned in those books.

[keestone.livejournal.com]

There's three or four of us upthread.

I'll add Black Beauty and the "Blaze" picture books to the list, but I think the detailed info was definitely from the Black Stallion books.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I learned it from reading Man O'War, yeah. Along with what a Quaker was. :D

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

YANA. I went through a major horse-crazy phase in elementary school, with the Black Stallion books playing a major role. I almost certainly knew the horse-breeding definition of stud by the time I was nine and didn't learn the other one until many years later. To this day the breeding stallion definition of stud is usually the first one that comes to mind when I hear the word.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

Suburbanite here, and I can't remember not knowing that a stud is a male horse used for breeding. (But I did go through the whole reading books about horses phase.)

This reminds me of the time--long, long ago--that one of my stories got banned from FF.net because I used the word "bitch" in the summary. HOWEVER, I had clearly used the term to refer to an actual female dog, not as a derogatory term for a woman, so the ban was completely uncalled for. It was like they didn't know that there was an original meaning.

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

I once had a piece of software chide me for my language, informing me that "black" was not the appropriate term for African-American and that "cat" was a derogatory term for a woman. Pity that I was referring to a feline of the very dark persuasion at the time.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

You don't think this meaning will be apparent in context? Or at least that a little mental red flag might go up that perhaps ranches of attractive hunky men are not actually a thing, and clarification should be sought?

Are these silly questions?

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't really give it a thought since "[Redacted] Stud Farm" is the name of the farm, plus the guy's entire career is based around horse racing, plus I figured she'd know what a stud farm was. But apparently she had doubts in context, and there's no denying that once in a while our VPs show a very localized but stunning lack of knowledge.

[libbyalice.livejournal.com]

"...ranches of attractive hunky men are not actually a thing..." We can but dream that one day the universe will correct this.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

At that point I'd wonder what she thought it meant.... I guess maybe a stud farm could be sort of related to a bunny ranch.

[bloodanna.livejournal.com]

.... Huh. I thought that was common knowledge too, but then again I have a father who I'm sure has watched pretty much every western ever made. One does to pick things up from that after a while. XD

[natf.livejournal.com]

Black Beauty film and book. Joyce Stranger books. Horses in the family (aunt's). Grandpa's small-holding. I can see someone not knowing this if they have had a 100% city upbringing and no interest in reading about animals as a child but your retelling is, as always ROFLMAO-funny!