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Interesting but doesn’t quite answer the question.

Boeuf is the French word for beef, not cow. So the question is still why do we call it roast boeuf instead of roast vache?

To be more confusing, cow is the term for the female of the species, in this case cattle, but female whales are also called cows.

Does vache mean cow or does vache mean cattle?

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Tavarin@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
The French eating it called it beef, the English raising it called it cow. The french didn’t call it roast cow because they were eating it as food, thus beef.

The above poster explained your question already.

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- badcommandorfilename@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Quand je mange du poulet, je l’appelle poulet. Aile de poulet; pilons de poulet etc.
  
  Quand je mange de l’agneau, je l’appelle agneau. Jarret d’agneau; côtelettes d’agneau.
  
  Alors pourquoi est-ce que je ne mange pas de cochon ou de vache ? Je mange du porc ou du boeuf.
  
  Quelle est la raison de ceci?
  
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  - Tavarin@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Chicken and lamb were more commonly seen and interacted with by the people that ate them, cows and pigs were not.
    
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  - Phoenixbouncing@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Parceque un porc ou un boeuf ça design aussi l’animal.
    
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cyborganism@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Boeuf is the male cow. Vache is a female.

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