ranch lingo etymology

[Pauline McNamara]

OK maybe this belongs in meaningless drivel forum, but it is specific to javaranch. I've been wondering about some of the great "old west" vocabulary used here. Maybe someone can help this city slicker (or maybe a few non-native English speakers) with the meaning of some terms like...
What's a nit and why would you want to pick it?
Why is a newcomer called a greeenhorn? Why a horn and why green?
"Get them doggies movin'!" Why are cattle called doggies?
Any linguists out there?
cheers,
Pauline

[Thomas Paul]

Originally posted by Pauline McNamara:
What's a nit and why would you want to pick it?
Why is a newcomer called a greeenhorn? Why a horn and why green?
"Get them doggies movin'!" Why are cattle called doggies?

A nit is the egg or newborn of a louse. And since lice can be really itchy, piking nits is a good idea.
A greenhorn comes from the fact that young deer have green horns.
Don't know about doggies.

[Johannes de Jong]

You mean Marilyn is picking lice from my code

[Carl Trusiak]

doggie or dogie is from American Western slang. A dogie is a motherless or stray calf. During roundups, the ranchhands would round them up and to encourge the calfs to rejoin the herd would shout 'giddy up little dogie' Additonally anything that lags behindhind is said to be 'dogging it' so, the term spread to include any cow or calf that had to be encourged to rejoin the herd on a roundup or cattle drive so....

[Pauline McNamara]

hey thanks everyone, even this city slicker can appreciate those images.
Pauline