A couple of weeks ago, there was a cow loose in Brooklyn, New York, where I live. My boyfriend, who hails from the tiny town of Dale City, Iowa (population 13!), joked that we should go around shouting "'m boss! 'm boss!" (short for "come boss!") to try to find him. When I asked him why on earth we would do that, he insisted it's something lots of people—including his dad—used to say to summon cattle from the field. At first, I was incredulous. We're both Midwesterners, and my mom comes from a big farming family (and I mean big—she's got 10 older brothers, and five of them farm). But I had never heard of calling cows "boss" before.
So, I asked around—and he was right. Sure enough, my mom told me that growing up, her family did indeed call "Come Boss," to get their cows in from the pasture. I just never happened to hear about it. Several of my friends also remember their farmer fathers and grandfathers using variations of "Come Boss," "Cu Bossie," or "He Boss," as do people all over the Internet. Like this commenter on a Homesteading Today forum:
"I can still hear my grandfather's voice, yelling, 'come bossy, come bossy, come bossy' across the barnyard at milking time. Funny how I thought he was the only one in the world who said that! And I had no idea what it meant, but I'd be right beside him yelling the same thing. Gosh, I miss those days."
However, even if they recognize the expression, most country folks don't know exactly what it means or how the seemingly universal nickname got started in the first place.
No, it didn't originate because "Bossie" is a common cow name, and it's not because the animals are especially bossy by nature (although they can get quite demanding when they want food—moo!). It turns out that the word for cow in Latin is bos, a term that can also mean ox and bull. Cattle are part of the genus Bos, usually classified as Bos taurus.
Merriam-Webster lists cow as one of its definitions for the English noun "boss,"citing the first known use as 1790. "Coboss," a shortened version of the two words "come boss" meaning "a call to cows" appears in the dictionary as well.
Different forms of the phrase seem to have been passed down from generation to generation. As another commenter said, the saying probably stuck simply because it was effective; the animals responded to the familiar words as they associated it with food.
Sadly, it seems the tradition may be coming to an end. Although "come boss" rings a bell, some noted that they hadn't heard it since their grandpop passed or since their family stopped farming.
But there's hope. Clearly, old "Bossie" lives on for those with fond memories of life in the country. Hey, it even made its way to New York City.
