Sacred cow (idiom)
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Sacred cow is an idiom, a figurative reference to sacred cows in some religions. This idiom is thought to originate in American English,[1] although similar or even identical idioms occur in many other languages. In the political realm, it is a term with reference to issues that a politician would rather not touch.[2]
The idiom is based on the popular understanding of the elevated place of cows in Hinduism and appears to have emerged in America in the late 19th century.[1] A literal sacred cow or sacred bull is an actual cow or bull that is treated with sincere respect. A figurative sacred cow is a figure of speech for something considered immune from question or criticism, especially unreasonably so.[3][4]
Paradox
One writer has suggested that there is an element of paradox in the concept of respect for a sacred cow, as illustrated in a comment about the novelist V. S. Naipaul: "V. S. Naipaul ... has the ability to distinguish the death of an ordinary ox, which, being of concern to no one, may be put quickly out of its agony, from that of a sacred cow, which must be solicitously guarded so that it can die its agonizing death without any interference."[5]
The motto of the satirical magazine The Realist was "Irreverence is our only sacred cow".[6]
See also
References
- 1 2 "Sacred cow". The Phrase Finder. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
- ↑ "sacred cow". 15 July 2010.
- ↑ "the definition of sacred cow". Dictionary.com.
- ↑ Martin, Gary. "'Sacred cow' - the meaning and origin of this phrase". Phrasefinder.
- ↑ Pollack, David (1992). Reading against culture: ideology and narrative in the Japanese novel. Cornell University Press. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-8014-8035-5.
- ↑ DeMott, Benjamin; Berger, Arthur Asa (2003). Supergrow: essays and reports on imagination in America (reprint ed.). Transaction Publishers. pp. 72–73. ISBN 0-7658-0521-9.
Further reading
- Sacred cows make the best hamburger, sources on earliest uses