Stag question for our British friends

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 105777

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "quigonginger" <quigonginger at y...> wrote:
> 
> Here in ND, we use 3 words for deer:  1) fawn, a baby deer, 2) doe, a 
> female deer, and 3) buck, a male deer.  I'll let you get Julie 
> Andrews out of your heads ;-)
> 
> So I looked in my American dictionary, and there was quite the 
> difference between stag and buck.  
> 
> Buck is a male deer or antelope (snip all the other definitions that 
> have nothing to do with the topic).
> 
> Stag is "a young male red deer...also other various kinds of deer... 
> a young unbroken stallion... a male animal castrated after 
> maturity...compare to steer..."
> 
> Am I reading too much into this?
> Is James meant to be "castrated"?
> Or "unbroken"?
> Or is buck just not commomly used in British vocabulary?

No problem.
In general usage 'stag' refers to a male red deer - the OED
says that it refers to one more than five years old, so it's
liable to have a full set of antlers.
"Buck' is usually applied to the males of other types of deer:
 roe or  fallow deer especially. (Or rabbits!)

Kneasy