Social state and heritage is the difference. When the Normans from France conquered England and took power over the Anglo-Saxons their language was different. Veal means calf meat, not calf, but its meat. A calf is an animal that needs work, dirty work, and veal is what has a Norman noble man has on his table for dinner. Nothing connects the excellent meat dish with the dirty and smelly work of a farmer. This distinction is very British. The upper class still cultivates these differences a lot. Being a member of the upper class shows mostly in language and less in still owning power over anglo-saxon farmers, though wealth is still more effective to fend off snobs than anything. Not only in England. Also language barriers are still alive and kickin'. Beef is a word from French "boef", not ox or cow as in Anglo-Saxon. Boef(beef) is the good meat, not the animal that needs milking and not an ox in his dung. It is the expensive and noble meal, like veal, not the untidy smelly language that is used by those who care for the respective animals. The Norman nobility needed translators to talk to their unwashed people. Sometimes I think that habit is still in use today.