CAT'S PAJAMAS VIII

Tad Tuleja

A collection of the (mostly) true origins of familiar phrases

UNTIL (WHEN) THE COWS COME HOME

 

To wait until the cows come home is to wait virtually forever, that is, for an event that will never happen. The construction seems somewhat inept, for on a farm that is kept running smoothly, pastured cows are brought into the barn every night. The expression means "forever" in American English because of the prevalence of rustling on our western frontier. When a rancher had lost his cows to cattle thieves, he knew that their brands would soon be changed, and the opportunity for retrieving them greatly reduced. In most cases, unless the rustlers were caught in the act, it was unlikely the stolen cows would ever be seen again. Hence the scoffing frontier expression for improbability: "when the cows come home and lizards fly".