Oxen. Not ox.
Ox is the plural, says various sources. So oxen must the singular noun.
Anyway, these things are pretty cool creatures. I've always wondered where they come from; like are they wild and domesticated; a unique naturally-occurring breed altogether? Well, they're actually just a special breed of bovine, or more basically, cow. They were pretty commonly used in old times as the engines of near-immovable loads and people-moving carts.
They're better than horses too, apparently. If you want to make sure that whatever you're hauling around arrives at point B in one piece. Sure, horses are faster. But they can jerk and stop unexpectedly; maybe something on the road spooks them. Ox are different. Tie a pair of ox to your cart, direct them, and you know you'll get where you want to be safely. They're slowler than horses, so perhaps if speed's your thing you might be looking more towards the equine side of the argument. But they're stronger than horses too. How 'bout that?
Too bad they have to be trained so thoroughly from a young age. Like, a really young age. And too bad there're so many malnourished ox in third-world and developing countries. I mean, come on. If someone's going to use an animal for physical labour, they should at least feed the poor thing properly.
Now if you look to the Chinese zodiac, Adolf Hitler was born in the year of the oxen. How's that for useless trivia?
Ox is the plural, says various sources. So oxen must the singular noun.
Anyway, these things are pretty cool creatures. I've always wondered where they come from; like are they wild and domesticated; a unique naturally-occurring breed altogether? Well, they're actually just a special breed of bovine, or more basically, cow. They were pretty commonly used in old times as the engines of near-immovable loads and people-moving carts.
They're better than horses too, apparently. If you want to make sure that whatever you're hauling around arrives at point B in one piece. Sure, horses are faster. But they can jerk and stop unexpectedly; maybe something on the road spooks them. Ox are different. Tie a pair of ox to your cart, direct them, and you know you'll get where you want to be safely. They're slowler than horses, so perhaps if speed's your thing you might be looking more towards the equine side of the argument. But they're stronger than horses too. How 'bout that?
Too bad they have to be trained so thoroughly from a young age. Like, a really young age. And too bad there're so many malnourished ox in third-world and developing countries. I mean, come on. If someone's going to use an animal for physical labour, they should at least feed the poor thing properly.
Now if you look to the Chinese zodiac, Adolf Hitler was born in the year of the oxen. How's that for useless trivia?
