It has been, for lack of a better term, "common knowledge" that female sheep were the source.
How this information was derived, or it's source, is not known to me, I just remember my boot camp days.
and frank, calling me "sir" is like puttin an elevator in an outhouse, it's not really necessary. :)
Yeah, right.....sir.
Sorry, but it's in my upbringing, this constant urge to call any honest man endeavoring to do his honest best, "sir."
I know it sounds archaic and old-fashioned and perhaps even artificial (but if one actually hears me utter the word, he discerns immediately that it is sincere), but one cannot go against his grain.