a term apparently stolen by Douglas Coupland to refer to cubicles. Apparently cubicles are similar in appearance to the places where they fatten up young cows. I don't know as I've been lucky enough to avoid them in my career. Although, my wife who works at IBM has a tiny cubicle.

Douglas Coupland appropriated the phrase from silicon valley where in some companies the square footage for a cubicle is on average 30 square feet while the law requires calves used for veal to have a minimum of 35 square feet.