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