(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

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

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

[metallumai.livejournal.com]

I read all the Will James books as a kid, and all the other horse stories available, as I suspect all of us who wanted to be cowboys when we grew up did. But there are adult-level books that would be just as likely to give readers information about stud farms. What, all the mystery readers here and nobody mentions the Dick Francis books? Granted they're not Dorothy Sayers, but he does write decent mysteries, and they're ALL about racehorse society.

I don't think I ever read Man o War-- he was owned by Quakers?

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Oh man I just TOTALLY conflated Man O'War with King Of The Wind. Granted they're both by Marguerite Henry and I believe King Of The Wind was Man O'War's ancestor, so there is at least some method to my madness. :D

Man O'War wasn't owned by Quakers, but for a while his distant Arabian ancestor was -- or at least, he was in the book, which is somewhat fictionalised so I'm not sure if that part is true.