Why do we refer to cow's milk as just milk, but a woman's milk breast milk?

1. 94

   peeplesposted 9 years ago

   Why do we refer to cow's milk as just milk, but a woman's milk breast milk?
   
   Why don't we say cow's breast milk, or cow's teat milk? Is leaving out the source of the milk making it easier for everyone to consume it? Why don't we just say human milk instead of breast milk? (I know, weird question, random thought)

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2. 0

   JThomp42posted 9 years ago

   So we do no get confused about all of this breast milk flying around.

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3. 82

   kerbevposted 9 years ago

   Because we consume cow's milk for much more of our lives than breast milk, so why not have that be the shorter term?
   
   EDIT:     or at least I do.

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   1. 94

      peeplesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Ok then why don't we just say human milk? Why is the norm to say breast milk?

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4. 69

   Aime Fposted 9 years ago

   Because more people consume cow's milk than human milk. People just assume if you say "milk" you mean cow's milk. Since it's the norm (at least here), you'd be expected to specify if it were a different kind.

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5. 71

   clivewilliamsposted 9 years ago

   Just a way of differentiating between human and animal, so when we mention milk we know directly which one we speak of. Normally people don;t say cow breast either, they say tits or udder or teats, same with goats and other milk giving animals. Breast milk is associated with the human animals.

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6. 70

   FeniqueSposted 9 years ago

   I think, by the time the manufactures  get through putting all the chemicals in the cow's milk its not natural any more.  It is milk, that originated from cows, where as breast milk is natural straight from the mother to child/calf/kid/colt.

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   M. T. Dremerposted 9 years ago

   As everyone pointed out, it is because drinking cows milk is more common than drinking breast milk. It's much the same as bananas versus 'organic' bananas. Technically the organic banana is more banana than the one with all the chemicals and GMOs, but because it isn't the norm, it gets stuck with the extra adjective.
   
   Though, as I get older, I can't help but wonder WHY cow's milk is the norm. Milk is formulated for growing infants. After a certain age, human babies and cow babies are weened off of milk to eat 'adult' food. So why is it that adults not only continue to drink food intended for an infant, but an infant of a different species? Though, admittedly, that's an entirely different debate.

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   1. 94

      peeplesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I agree 100%. Personally I kind of wonder why drinking human milk past infant years wasn't chosen over drinking infant cow milk. What made us determine which was suitable for adults?

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      Aime Fposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I think the human lifestyle doesn't really allow for continuous production of milk. Imagine all of the work that would go into pumping enough milk for your entire family? And I wouldn't want to be lactating for the rest of my life.

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