2006-09-18 06:58:45 · 21 answers · asked by foxtaylor2000 2 in Pets ➔ Birds
Probably for the same reason a dog is called a dog and a cat is called a cat.
Chow!!
2006-09-18 07:06:28 · answer #1 · answered by No one 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Cos it couldn't fit into the gorilla suit!
Maybe its from Austria and its head was in the sand when a guy came over and said "What you called mate?", well the Ostrich didn't hear him properly and he said Austria. Well, the bloke couldn't hear the bird cos of the fact its head was in the sand. This exchange went on for rather a long time. When the guy was satisfied that the bird had said Ostrich, it became one!
(fin)
2006-09-18 20:31:20 · answer #2 · answered by Wizzy Woman 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The scientific name for the ostrich is from the Greek for "sparrow camel."
2006-09-18 14:04:50 · answer #3 · answered by tor 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What I see in the name is. "out stretch" or stretch out", like the neck is stretched out way above,and therefor the name "ostrich"
I also want to know the real reason.
2006-09-18 14:16:16 · answer #4 · answered by Zana 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In the 17th century, Latin avis "bird" was borrowed into
English unchanged in the phrase rara avis, literally 'rare bird'
but used in the same sense as in Latin, to mean 'a marvel'.
Avis crops up again in the Latin derivative aviarium, the source
of our word aviary. But avis was aphonetically rather an
undernourished word, as one sees in particular when one
realizes that the v was pronounced like w in classical Latin times,
and the-s was an ending that would be changed in different cases of the noun. As a result, the word hides, virtually unrecognisable, in a number of words that have come down to us from Latin forms that have avis as part of a fixed phrase or compound.
Ostrich is one such.
It was borrowed from Old French ostrusce, which comes from an unattested Vulgar Latin form we may reconstruct as something like austruthio, deriving from avis and the Late Latin struthio, the latter a loan from Greek.
The avis is more cleverly hidden in bustard, which derives
ultimately from Latin avis tarda. Within classical Latin
itself, avis appears in a stump form in auspex 'one who divines
omens from the behaviour of birds'. (Here the second part of the
compound is from a root meaning 'see', familiar to us from our words spectacle and spectator.)
The auspex held an important position, and his title was extended
to mean 'patron, supporter of an enterprise'. His activity was
called the auspicium, in a generalized sense 'patronage or
leadership', and this word is the source of our word auspices.
[Middle English ostriche, from Old French ostrusce, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin avis struthio, from Latin avis bird - Late Latin struthio ostrich]
2006-09-18 14:04:58 · answer #5 · answered by Lisa S 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Why are you called fox taylor I guess it is for the same reaso at sometime someone thought it fitted. By the way do foxtaylors sell foxgloves?
2006-09-21 08:50:47 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
O overgrown.
S stupid
T thick
R ruddy
I iresponsible
C crazy
H hen
does ostrich not sound better?
2006-09-18 14:08:26 · answer #7 · answered by barrie s 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Cos if it was called a chicken we'd all get confused and boiled eggs would take an hour to eat!
2006-09-18 14:00:10 · answer #8 · answered by Andromeda Newton™ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
you can apply this to abything that has a name..
why is a horse called a horse, why is a cow called a cow,
why are we called humans when so many of us are clearly not human but more animalistic than the animals.
2006-09-18 14:08:26 · answer #9 · answered by Shelley27 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Cos an elephant didnt suit it? sorry couldnt resist
2006-09-18 14:00:08 · answer #10 · answered by theoldecrone 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋