Long before the first Europeans arrived in America, a strange looking animal lived on the western plains. It looked somewhat lik

Long before the first Europeans arrived in America, a strange looking animal lived on the western plains. It looked somewhat like a water buffalo. It preferred to eat the rich grass of the plains. The official name of the strange animal is the American Bison. However, nearly everyone calls the creature a buffalo. In the early days, millions of buffaloes moved freely across the continent. It is said that they were tremendous animals and ran with great speed. The Indians hunted them for food and clothing. In the 19th century, white men began to hunt the bison for their skins. They seldom killed the bison for meat. One famous frontiersman, however, Buffalo Bill Cody hunted buffalo for meat. The railroads used the meat to feed their workers in order to save money. As a result, many buffaloes were killed during that time. However, the American buffaloes were difficult to hunt because they could run at a speed at almost 75 kilometers an hour and were always ready for a fight. There were times when five or six bullets would not kill them, and buffalo hunters sometimes had a lot of trouble killing this kind of animals. The buffaloes were hard to control and the hunters would get confused or feel helpless. Finally, in the West, the expression to buffalo, came to mean to make one helpless or to confuse and trick. It is still used today. When a person has you "buffaloed", he has you in his power:You’re helpless!