The Language of Prejudice

Do you ever consider how harmful language can be towards a certain group? Women, African-Americans, homosexuals, and animals?

Now pause for a sec. Think about it: what was your reaction when you saw 'animals' grouped above along with women, blacks, and homosexuals? Some (too many) people would be very offended to see women and blacks and gays grouped with animals. That right there shows how far we look down at animals as beings much less than ourselves. And even those who consider themselves ethical feminists, for example, may still be offended (or maybe be even more likely to be offended) at the concept of placing animals and women in the same list. Well to that I say ANIMALS DESERVE JUST AS MUCH LOVE AND RESPECT AS HUMANS, whether those humans are female or male, African-American or Hispanic or Asian or White, homosexual or bisexual or transexual or heterosexual.

And by saying that, I do not lower women, blacks, or homosexuals to the perception of animals as 'dirty' or 'beasts'; instead I raise animals to the perception of women, blacks, and homosexuals as equal and worthy of respect.

Now, think for a moment about the language we use daily, almost always without realizing the demeaning words we speak.
I ask you, please, think about the phrases you use, and try to eliminate the chauvinistic, racist, and SPECIESIST lingo from your personal word bank. Here are some phrases to consider -- think about the demeaning quality they have towards the animals, and please work to break the habit of including them in your vernacular:

'Bird brain'
'Flip the bird'
'Kill two birds with one stone' -- Do we have it out for birds or what?!
'Go ape"
'As blind as a bat'
'Loaded for bear' -- Think about this one in the context of hunting...evil!
'Have a bird'
'Have a cow'
'For the birds'
'Get the bird'
'Bullshit'
'Cock and bull story'
'To shoot the bull'
'Scardy cat'
'To kill the fatted calf'
'Chicken' -- implying afraid, cowardly
'Chicken out'
'Brush colt' -- an illegitimate child
'Eating crow' -- to take back your words
'My dogs are barking' -- your feet hurt (implying feet are like dogs)
'A dog's chance' -- very little chance
'Bird dog' -- someone's buttocks
'Ass' -- While actually a member of the horse family, frequently used as a derogatory term
'Crooked as a dog's hind leg' -- dishonest
'Dogged me' -- 'bothered me'
'Duck soup' -- easy
'Dead duck' -- certain to fail
'Sitting ducks' -- vulnerable
'Shooting fish in a barrel' -- too easy
'Got bigger fish to fry'
'Separate the sheep from the goats' -- again, why are goats bad? They never did anything wrong!
'Cook someone's goose'
'Be a hog' -- to take more than one's share
'Call hogs' -- snore
'Beating a dead horse'
'So hungry one could eat a horse'
'Like a lamb to the slaughter' -- without resistance
'Have a monkey on one's back'
'Make a monkey of' -- make someone look like a fool
'Drunk as a boiled owl' -- that's just gross
'Owly' -- cranky, negative
'Vain as a peacock'
'Fat as a pig'
'Pig out'
'Dirty rat' -- immoral person
'Smell a rat' -- think there's a traitor
'Black sheep' -- troublesome person
'Ugly as a toad'
'Turkey' -- something that fails, dud
'Weasel' -- a treacherous person
'Wolf' -- a grabbing, fiercefully cruel person or thing
'Like a chicken with its head cut off'
'No room to swing a cat' -- small space
'Scapegoat'
'Quit cold turkey'
'There's more than one way to skin a cat' -- Skinning cats, swinging cats...what's the matter with people!!
'Gets your goat' -- makes you mad

Now please, DON'T BE PREJUDICE, AND DON'T USE THESE TERMS -- they really imply that animals are less than us, which really isn't the case at all. All animals, both human and non-human, are feeling, emotional creatures and deserve utmost respect!