While it might be a relatively mild insult by Canberra's political standards, "cow" has now been added to a long list of words considered to be unparliamentary in the ACT Legislative Assembly.
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The comment may have derailed debate about the territory budget for almost an hour, but it barely warrants a mention on the list of best insults thrown across the Assembly chamber through its history.
Clerk Tom Duncan said on Thursday a ruling on the word won’t stop future talk about paddock-and-grass cows, as tone was considered when unparliamentary words were used.
“Hypocrite” is regularly ruled out of order, along with "goose", "grub" and its related "grubby little soul", and "grubby little man".
Calling a fellow politician a liar – a relatively regular occurrence – will always lead to an order to withdraw, along with swearing and any reference to the Nazis.
Others on the long list include "muppets", "mug" and "moron", along with "prat", "pathetic" and "Puss in Boots".
Some of the more unusual insults have included "blind, bitter and twisted woman", "balaclava-wearing sons and daughters of Peter Reith" and "Pinocchio, your nose is growing".
The current Assembly has been positively polite compared with recent years.
A furious Chief Minister Jon Stanhope used a 2007 debate to accuse Liberal Brendan Smyth of a four-year campaign of "innuendo and slime".
He told the Assembly Mr Smyth was a "despicable little man" with a "dirty mind" who belonged in the gutter.
''He likes it there, down with the cigarette butts and the dog turds and the wasted life," Mr Stanhope said.
In 2009, he suggested Mr Smyth was like the reality television program The Biggest Loser because he had lost three elections in a row.
Former Labor minister John Hargreaves resigned as government whip in February 2012 after writing a homophobic slur against Treasurer Andrew Barr in a note to Liberal Alistair Coe in 2010.
The same year, Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson told Greens member Meredith Hunter she had her priorities ''up her arse''.
In April 2013, members were warned not to refer to outgoing member Zed Seselja as "senator" or "senator elect" before his departure to campaign for the federal Parliament.
A month later Education Minister Joy Burch mispronounced Liberal member Steve Doszpot's name, calling him "Mr Softspot".
The rules of the Assembly forbid members from using the name of the Queen or her representatives disrespectfully, and using offensive words against other members or the judiciary.
