Animalogy Change your language. Change the world.

humor me

bend your arm and squeeze your bicep

muscle now touch that muscle with your

other hand

now relax it and squeeze again and relax

what do you feel besides the rock hard

bicep

obviously but aside from that what do

you feel movement right

do you see a little mouse well some

anatomist did when he coined the word

muscle

because the movement of a muscle

reminded him of a little mouse

moving under a blanket the word muscle

comes from the latin word

musculus meaning little mouse there are

animals hiding in other parts of your

anatomy as well

your cornea the transparent membrane

covering the surface of your eye

comes from the latin word cornu meaning

animal horn

because delicate though this tissue

seems it’s actually surprisingly

hard like an animal’s horn i call

these animal-related words animologies

and you’re sitting

on an animology right now at least i am

the coccyx commonly called the tailbone

is a small triangle-shaped bone at the

base of the spinal column

and named for its resemblance to the

beak of a particular

bird coccyx is greek for cuckoo bird

and if you think you’re going to have

trouble remembering all of this you’re

underestimating your hippocampus

the part of your brain crucial for

long-term memory

and named for its resemblance to the

hippocampus a mythological sea creature

that was part fish and part not hippo

horse hippo is greek for horse

we also have animologies for other parts

of our anatomy including those with less

scientific names like buck teeth

crow’s feet goatee ponytail pigtails and

spider veins just to name a few

in fact animologies are everywhere in

our language

many of our own names cities and

countries are named after animals so are

cars

constellations rivers plants and sports

teams

there are thousands of words idioms

metaphors

proverbs everyday expressions even

letters of the alphabet that have

animals hidden within reflecting how

deeply connected we

are to animals and how deeply rooted

they are

in our history our consciousness and our

hearts

but you knew a butt was coming but

alarmingly we have many figures of

speech

that reflect a disturbing amount of

violence towards animals

expressions like kill two birds with one

stone

there’s more than one way to skin a cat

there’s no room to swing a cat

take the bull by the horns to shoot the

ball kill the fatted calf

bleed like a stuck pig make a silk purse

out of a sow’s ear

to eat crow easy as shooting fish in a

barrel the straw that broke the camel’s

back

and to run around like a chicken with

his head cut off we

call people animals when we want to

insult them most

we call someone a snake in the grass or

a dirty rat a bird brain or a filthy pig

fat pig stupid pig greedy pig male

chauvinist pig or just pig

or pick any animal and it’s usually an

insult calling someone a dog or a

chicken

or a worm now i know what you’re

thinking no cow

or pig or chicken or rat or any animal

is hurt or offended when we use their

names as insults so

what’s the big deal the animals

themselves don’t know the difference and

for our part the metaphors serve as

convenient and colorful linguistic

shorthand that everyone

immediately understands and while it’s

true

that the animals don’t know the

difference it’s also

true that our choice of words reflects

our individual

and collective values and reveals much

about who we are what we believe

and how we behave our language

represents and reinforces the attitudes

of our culture giving social credit to

our thoughts

and actions that’s why making sexes

comments even when women

aren’t present is still not okay sexist

comments

whether or not women hear them reinforce

sexist ideas

and behaviors in the same way using

disparaging language about animals

even though the animals are unaware of

it gives social legitimacy to our

depiction of them

as being so inferior to humans that they

deserve to be subjugated

and denied control over their own bodies

their own offspring

and their own lives in fact i would

argue

that the systematic violence we

perpetrate daily against

animals is not only reflected in our

language

but driven by it for hundreds of

millennia our human ancestors

were one weak species in the struggle

for survival

with weapons and will we came to

dominate all other species

even those for whom we were prey as a

result

any reverence we once held for their

autonomy and strength devolved

into chauvinism and arrogance as we

characterize humans as intelligent

and civilized and non-violent and

animals

as simple and savage and violent this is

especially apparent when we hear about

humans

committing the most violent crimes we

don’t say they’re behaving like humans

we say they’re behaving like animals and

yet

for all our self-declared supremacy

humans are wiping out entire species

destroying vital ecosystems

overpopulating

the planet and bringing billions of

animals into the world each year

only to kill them this is not a legacy

we should be proud of

this is a legacy whose consequences are

dire for

all species including our own and that’s

the point

we’re all connected we are all animals

this fact is apparent not only in our

physiological features but also in our

lexicological roots

referring to that immaterial essence

that animates

all living beings the word animal comes

from the latin word

anima meaning breath or soul the word

animal comes from the word that means

soul

and yet one of the ways we justify

subjugating other animals

is to assert that they’re not like us

that they don’t have a soul

this too has consequences in denying

non-human animals a soul we’re debasing

our own

how we know that in order to hurt or

kill

fellow human beings in war or any act of

violence

first you have to dehumanize them to

create a psychological distance from

them

that enables you to justify hurting or

killing them

and the quickest and most effective way

of lowering the status of a human

is to call them an animal this is not

just semantics

using derogatory animal words to

discriminate against fellow humans

has enabled us to commit the worst

atrocities

in human history systematically calling

people of color

apes monkeys and baboons laid the

foundation

for systemic racism and slavery in our

country

systematically depicting native

americans as hogs dogs and

wolves laid the foundation for the near

annihilation

of the indigenous peoples of north

america systematically characterizing

jews as rats

pigs and worms the nazis laid the

groundwork for the murder

of over six million people the hutus

systematically depicting the tutsis as

insects

and cockroaches created the fertile

ground for the rwandan genocide

and while it makes us uncomfortable to

hear these depictions

of various human groups they rest on

stereotypes of

animals which are false in their own

right as if pigs are inherently

disgusting

as if rats are naturally devious as if

wolves are brutal and vicious

they’re not but our perceived human

superiority dictates that we perceive

them as such

and yet if we were to characterize these

animals based

not on our own biases but rather on what

we actually know to be true

about the cognitive emotional and social

lives of these animals

it would be an entirely different story

after all

pigs are intelligent playful and

fastidiously clean

rats are social and adaptable and

resourceful

cockroaches are survivors

characteristics we admire

characteristics we all share however

much we try to differentiate ourselves

from other animals

i think we know deep in our animal bones

dare i say mussels

that we’re more alike than we are

different and that even our small

differences

don’t warrant our arrogance human and

non-human animal alike

we share the fundamental aspects of

eating and drinking

working and playing fighting and loving

birthing and dying living and breathing

some of this is expressed in positive

metaphors that reveal our similarities

busy as a bee

gentle as a lamb quiet as a mouse strong

as an ox

we call people who are the most

protective mother hens

these are expressions to embrace the

idea is not to abandon animal related

words and expressions altogether

the idea is to be aware of our language

and to ask ourselves

does the way we talk and write reflect

and reinforce our connection to

and our compassion for other animals or

does it reflect

and reinforce hostility and disgust

to be clear being mindful of the words

we use is not about restricting or

policing language it’s simply about

making sure our words

are consistent with our values do we

value compassion or violence

connection or separation kindness or

cruelty

now i’ll warn you when you start paying

attention to the words and expressions

you use

you will be surprised by all the

etymologies positive

and negative that you say and here you

may even enjoy finding compassionate

versions

of the most violent idioms instead of

beating a dead horse you may find

there’s no use watering a dead flower

instead of killing two birds with one

stone you may find a way to cut two

carrots with one

knife or whatever you like there is

after all

more than one way to peel a potato the

point is

at a time in our history when we’re so

fixated on what divides us rather than

on what unites us

what we need is a vernacular that

reflects compassion

for everyone in this compassionate

paradigm

we would see animals not as subjects of

ours to use

but as cohabitants contributors and

fellow earthlings

and we would recognize that despite the

highest steam with which we regard our

own species

in our treatment of others and the

planet we share

we might do well to take some cues from

our animal brethren

by changing the way we talk about other

animals we change the way we perceive

them

by changing the way we perceive them we

change the way we treat them

and the way we treat each other by

changing the way we treat each other

we can create the compassionate world we

all say we want

changing the way we talk about animals

may not change animals

but it might just change us and it could

just change the world

you