OKay I broke down and responded since it wasn't just redundantly saying "its a name". >From: Lady Weasel <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: gigas >The term *gigas* has been used in the mink industry for a very long time >to denote a mink of exceptional size. It is derived from the word *giga* >(as in gigabyte). Well then its simple. Doug McKay is a mink rancher more than a ferret breeder (or actually now his son is). Before you get too upset with him, Doug was an autoworker that was injured on the job (I believe it was on the job) but was in his mind cheated out of his disabilty income. He had to find something he could do within the limits of his health. >I find it hard to believe that as long as you have been in business you >have *never* called the offspring of a particular line by the original >sire's name. Doug has no control over how ohter people choose to use the >name or what type of *twist* they put on it. Actually Ed Lipinski DOES name all offspring based on the parents. But in a rather twisted and hard to read manner. We often talk about our kits by using their sire's names. Some or Genghis babies. Others are Buddha babies. And so forth. And I should have guessed you'd remember the story better than us... I was talking to Diane about htis and we both knew he had a reason for the Gigas but couldn't pull it out of the back reaches of our minds. >From: Matthew Ardill <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Demi Gigas >actually demi is derived from the french demie, the word for half. demi is >similar in meaning to "semi" and means more literally "half of". Those of us who are musicians that know both American and English terms know that a 32nd note is also a hemi-demi-semi-quaver... So you can and hemi to that list of rhyming synonyms... Perhaps Demi Moor(e) is half Moraccan? <grin> >From: Eve Kochel <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: New Coat Without a Shed? >I thought they only get new coats in the winter? Ferrets debut their new wardrobes twice a year with their spring and fall lineups. The spring fashions typically reflect sleeker silohuette and darker and more uniform coloration while the fall fashions are highlighted by fuller fabrics with lighter snow toned hues. Apparently ferrets choose to follow theanti-fahsion fahsion conventions of color choice compared to the fall drab and spring bright human fashions. - bill doubling as a fashion correspondant and giga-jester... -- bill and diane killian zen and the art of ferrets http://www.zenferret.com/ mailto:[log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 2653]