Of shepherds and cottages

Conversation, an hour or so ago:

V:   I've made a cottage pie for dinner, it's in the oven.
Me: Thank you!
V:   Actually I think it's a shepherd's pie, because it's made with lamb mince.
Me: I thought shepherd's pie and cottage pie were the same thing?
V:   No, shepherd's pie is made with lamb and cottage pie with beef.
Me: So shepherds eat lamb and cottagers eat beef?
V:   Just remember the kind of friends we have... As far as they're concerned, a cottager eating beef would have a whole different meaning!

Note for those who don't know gay slang from 30 years ago: 'cottaging' is what happens in 'tearooms' (no, I don't know why those terms were chosen either). But you can read all about it in Laud Humphreys, Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places (1975).