Somebody called somebody a silly goose. I heard this and didn’t like it. The word silly is not my kind of word.
But mainly, I didn’t like it because although geese are many things, they’re not silly, whether you like the word or not.
When I was growing up south of Chicago, I saw a kid shoot a goose with his dad’s shotgun.
We were in a prairie railyard, and there’d been flooding. A Canada Goose landed and was floating nearby. It wasn’t silly. Just resting.
The kid shot it, not in the way of a hunter, but in the way of a mean, tough, dumb slum kid who wanted to shoot something. The goose splashed its wings, but couldn’t take off.
Geese are overpopulating my neighborhood these days, north of Chicago. They walk the streets. They’re in shopping malls. They pair up, find nesting places, act aggressive.
They’re a smart, all-too-successful species. Get up close sometime and take a look.
They’re strong, gutsy, territorial, dirty, loyal to a mate, mean, clear-eyed, resourceful, foul, colorful, messy, proud, a lot of things. Silly is just not one of them.
People who use the term silly goose are, themselves, talking silly.
Another random thought about a word that’s misused: Storm troopers in old newsreels were said to goose step. They did a kind of straight-leg march, but their feet didn’t look like a goose’s feet.
Geese walk close to the ground. They waddle. They don’t resemble marching soldiers. Goose-step was a silly term.
The word for “goose-like” is “anserine.” That’s a word from the “-ine” family. Like equine (horse-like), porcine (pig-like), ovine, bovine, corvine, vulpine, lupine, etc. (you can look ‘em up, if you’re interested).
The word anserine sounds like “answer” is part of it. As though a goose might be the answer to something.
It’s just a big bird that I saw get shot by an asinine (dumb ass) kid who’s probably dead or in jail now. It’s also a bird that waddles around my neighborhood like it owns the place.
It’s not the answer to anything. And it’s not silly.
Sad story about the dumbass kid shooting the goose. When I was a dumbass kid (not mean, just dumb) I shot a Mourning Dove off a utility pole in about the same way, trying out my new second-hand .22 single-shot rifle (model 17 Winchester). I’ve regretted it ever since.
Don’t forget the ine family’s silly cousin: asinine.