So last night in my creative writing class, a student brings in a lovely poem about a "Canadian Goose." We workshop the poem and have a great conversation about line breaks, enjambment, and the piece's subtle rhythm. One of the best poems we've workshopped.
At the end of the discussion, I suggest that if the poem is referring to any old goose who happens to be from Canada, than "Canadian Goose" is correct, but that if the poem refers to the particular breed, it's technically "Canada Goose."
The class--and I'm not exaggerating--thinks I just got back from Mars. "How could that be?" they ask. Incredulous. "It's Canadian bacon," someone says. "Maybe you're thinking of Canada Dry," another says. "No, really, I'm pretty sure the breed is called Canada Geese," I say, but now I'm second guessing myself. Folks, now they're laughing at me! Somebody even cracks a joke about me being from Ohio (at what point did they get this comfortable?). "The breed of dog is called German Shepherd, not Germany Shepherd," someone insists and now I'm *really* thinking that I must be mis-remembering the terminology, because that German Shepherd example's a pretty good one.
Luckily, somebody whips out a laptop and in moments has multiple sites called up confirming that, yes, it's Canada Geese. Thank goodness, because at this point *I* am also starting to think I'm from Mars.
My question is, has the 'Canada Goose' label fallen out of the parlance? Is it even possible for the proper name of an animal to morph due to usage? Where are my linguistics colleagues when I need them?
2 comments:
Counterexample: I don't think people refer to certain breeds of dogs as "Bostonian Bulls" or "Newfoundlandians."
it has always been one of my quirks to react when i hear someone refer to Canada geese as Canadian geese. best explanation is "Canada" identifies the breed and "Canadian" would identify the nationality. i guess there could be Canadian Canada geese or Brazilian Canada geese.
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