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swamp donkey
DCHP-3 (Mar 2023)
Spelling variants:"swamp donkey"
n. — Outdoors, Informal, Humorous
a moose.
Type: 5. Frequency — The informal name swamp donkey for a moose is used in provinces as far apart as New Brunswick (see the 2007 and 2018 quotations) and Manitoba (see the 2014 quotation). Although also used in the US North, as Chart 1 shows, the term is most frequent in Canada.
The term swamp donkey has a completely different, misogynistic meaning in the UK and in New Zealand.
Quotations
1999
"Some of them call moose 'swamp donkeys,' " he laughs. " 'I wanna get me a swamp donkey.' "
Sure enough, here comes a boat toward us with a hunter in the bows, .303 rifle at the ready. "You can get right up to a moose if you keep your motor at the same speed," Jeddore continues. "But if he hears that engine note change, he'll take off into the trees and you've lost him."
2001
A lone moose drinks fresh water at the side of the Alaska Highway as Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell's campaign bus races past Wednesday.
"It's a swamp donkey," yells one reporter as everybody gawks at the gangly-looking beast.
2007
The problem is how to distinguish between the honest hunter who genuinely only wants to alert others that they plan to hunt one certain spot, and the greedy son of a swamp donkey that thinks he owns the woods?
2014
"We're not limiting it to husbands and wives; our race is going to be all-inclusive so that partners of any sort can participate," says John Ford, one of Swamp Donkey's race directors. "There are going to be guys carrying girls, girls carrying girls, guys carrying guys and heck, who knows, maybe even a few girls carrying guys."
2018
Penny Rossiter, Emily Ann's mother, said everybody knew her when she walked into the Albert County Swamp Donkey Pub in Riverside-Albert for karaoke. Over the years she has taken countless selfies there, her mom said.
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