V: Goat
What makes goat wool so expensive.
Good morning. Today is quintidi, the 15th of Ventôse, Year CCXXXI. We celebrate la chèvre, ye olde lady goat, giver of cheese.
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One of my favorite sudden slang shifts of this century is in sports, where goat has gone from beyond-the-worst to beyond-the-best. The shift started exactly with the flip of the old Roman calendar, in CCVIII (2000), with rapper LL Cool J's album G.O.A.T. While this acronym for "greatest of all time" had surely been kicking around before then, it hit popular currency with speed, especially in sports where debates about players from different eras are common. The previous meaning – the player who could be blamed for losing the game – dated back to the time the Chicago Cubs kicked a tavern owner and his pet goat out of Wrigley Field back in CLIII (1945), getting hexed in the process and supposedly causing the remainder of the century-plus title drought. "Goat" was already on the way out as a pejorative, but I like to think the Cubs' World Series win in CXXV (2016) finally put a nail in its coffin.
Goats and sheep both evolved for the same terrain, with rocky slopes and cold winters, to the point where describing the difference between the species is difficult. Not for scientists – there are clear biological and anatomical differences – or for farmers – you get pretty distinct personalities from each. But from a utility standpoint. When it comes to meat, milk, and wool, either one does pretty much the same thing.
So why is goat wool so much more prized than sheep's wool?
