Comments on: Wenzu the Magnificent – a historic bull ox

By: adrian

adrian — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:20:00 +0000

did all of you finished prozac?

(Daphne – There are some very good TEFL schools in Malta, Adrian.)

By: Micheala

Micheala — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:42:52 +0000

I don’t understand – the website says Wenzu the Magnificent, Prehistoric Bull Ox. He’s both a bull and an ox, but does he have bollocks?

(Daphne – I have not looked closely enough. There is a picture, I believe.)

By: amrio

amrio — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:53:24 +0000

LOL!!!! Great find Daphne! Let’s see what the real Wenzu will write about this!

By: freethinker

freethinker — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:46:33 +0000

Now isn’t that site interesting? I thought that, strictly speaking,there is no such thing as a female ox since an ox is just a steer or castrated bull (genus “bos”). It seems that a castrated bull or steer is then called an ox when it is taught to work. I’m not sure if the ox (in the English sense) is called an ox (in the Maltese sense) by reason of the castration.

I suppose one should call the female a cow. In Maltese an ox is called “gendus” and his female is the “baqra’. A bull is “barri” and, maybe few know this, some farmers call the female of the “barri” a “barrija”. I’m not sure whether there is really any difference between a baqra and a barrija. Anybody knows?

[Daphne – Oh my god, what have I started?]

By: Amanda Mallia

Amanda Mallia — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:56:09 +0000

Hilarious, Daph!

The link you provided above didn’t work on my computer, though (I had to re-type it), so I’m posting a link to it here for the benefit of whoever had the same problem as I did:

http://www.otsf.org/Wenzu.htm

[Daphne – Thanks. My moderator has decamped to Denmark, so I am having to work things out using a highly inefficient system of trial and error.]

By: Antoine Vella

Antoine Vella — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:38:07 +0000

Wenzu should be just as miffed as Toni to be called an ox. :) If you look closely you’ll see he’s a bull (in spite of the website’s name).

There seems to be some confusion in Malta about the term ‘ox’, especially now that it has become part of the political vocabulary.

[Daphne – My sister and I explained it on some other thread, to a proud-to-be Labour person who objected to the use of the word ‘ox’: an ox is a fully-grown bullock and a bullock is a bull with no bollocks.]