You Can’t Get My Goat!

Some years ago my wife and I visited the Finger Lakes region of upper New York State visiting the wineries there. I was inspired by the story behind “Goat Wine”, and got the idea to make a small cubical glass box, put a stuffed goat inside and place it on my desk.

This is how the inspiring Goat Wine story got started: Taylor Wine Company was sold to Coca-Cola and some years later Walter Taylor, a son of the founder, started Bully Hill Wine Company.

Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia web site:

In July 1977, after a merger with Coca-Cola Company the Taylor Wine Co. sued Walter Taylor to stop him from using his last name. U. S. District Court Judge Harold P. Burke agreed with the complaint. His instructions were that Bully Hill was enjoined from "using the word Taylor or any colorable imitation thereof in connection with any labeling, packaging materials, advertising, or promotional material for any of defendant's products."

The Taylor name was then blotted out wherever it appeared on Bully Hill products.

Walter Taylor then famously stated that "They took my name and heritage, but they didn't get my goat."

He actually produced “Goat Wine” with his story on the label…we loved his spunk and cynical humor!

My small cubical glass box, with my stuffed goat inside:

Visiting children always wanted to play with my stuffed goat.

I used to tell them: “No, you can not get my goat!”

For the rest of this true story visit the following web site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bully_Hill_Vineyards

A definition from wiseGEEK: What Does "Gets My Goat" Mean?

http://m.wisegeek.com/what-does-gets-my-goat-mean.htm

When people say that something "really gets my goat,” they mean that they are extremely irritated. A wide variety of things could contribute to irritation, ranging from someone else's actions to a series of events, but, despite the turn of phrase, goats are not usually involved. Like many colorful idioms in the English language, the origins of “get my goat” are murky, difficult to pin down, and actually rather fascinating.

Basic Meaning

If a person says, "that really gets my goat," he or she is simply expressing that an occurrence or object has caused annoyance. The "that" in the statement might not even refer to an actual thing, but rather to a situation. It is also common for a person to direct the phrase at someone else as "you really get my goat," to indicate that the object of the comment is annoying the speaker.

Early Usage and Possible Origins …

The first recorded uses of the phrase crop up around the early 1900s, and seem to suggest that this idiom is American in origin. This time period was, in fact, a great era for colorful slang terms in America, reflecting the rapid expansion of settlement in the US and the commingling of people from a wide variety of social, class, and ethnic backgrounds. A number of slang terms from this era are undoubtedly corruptions of slang from other languages, or misunderstandings of English words. Some people have suggested that “gets my goat” may be related to “goad,” as in “to irritate.” …