Sean Carabini
Definition: A cross between a goat to a sheep
Pronunciation: For shoat, say it like you see it. For geep, the ‘g’ sound is similar to the ‘g’ in ‘gum’ or ‘guru’.
Origin
1984 Institute of Animal Physiology (Cambridge, England). Geep is more commonly used as Shoat already has another agricultural meaning (a piglet that has been weaned). Technically speaking, a ‘Sheep-Goat-Chimera’ is the name when the sheep and goat embryos are combined in a lab. Interestingly, in the mature animal, the ‘sheep’ parts were woolly and the ‘goat’ parts were hairy. There is another mechanism by which a geep or shoat can be produced, however. It usually involves a goat learning how to put on a Barry White record and the sheep shearing her wool into the shape of a negligee… While this also results in geep/shoat production, the offspring is, technically, a ‘hybrid’ rather than the lab-produced ‘chimera’. The main difference here, however, is that hybrid geep/shoat cannot reproduce – but the chimera geep/shoat can – but it can only pass on either sheep or goat genes.
Why This Word?
Everybody loves goats. Everyone loves sheep even more. The fact that there is an animal that combines the two demands our attentions.
How to use the word geep or shoat in a sentence?
The best way of recognizing a geep/shoat? Look at the tail – it should protrude horizontally from the base of the spine. At that stage, if you see one in a field, you get to say “Hey kids – look – it’s a geep!”.
The second best use of geep/shoat is this new tongue twister that I have invented:
Sheep/Goat/Geep/Shoat
Geep/Shoat/Sheep/Goat
Try saying that ten times over and I guarantee that you’ll come up with a few linguistic hybrids of your own.
