Cow Dung - Variants

Variants

A buffalo chip, also called a meadow muffin, is the name for a large, flat, dried piece of dung deposited by the American Bison. Well dried buffalo chips were among the few things that could be collected and burned on the prairie and were used by the Plains Indians, settlers and pioneers, and homesteaders as a source of cooking heat and warmth.

Bison dung is sometimes referred to by the name nik-nik. This word is a borrowing from the Sioux language (which probably originally borrowed it from a northern source). In modern Sioux, nik-nik can refer to the feces of any bovine, including domestic cattle. It has also come to be used, especially in Lakota, to refer to lies or broken promises (especially by the U.S. government), analogously to the vulgar English term "bullshit" as a figure of speech.