| Word Choices |
| Animalkind |
Use...
- animals to include all creatures (human and nonhuman) with a nervous system
- mammals, primates, and apes to include humans
- persons, individuals, others, and people to include nonhumans
- the same vocabulary for nonhumans and humans (pigs and humans eat rather than feed; the bodies of dead sheep or humans are corpses, not carcasses; like women, female dogs and cats have ovariohysterectomies rather than are spayed
- parallel forms for humans and nonhumans (nonhuman and human animals; humans and dogs instead of human beings and dogs, mankind and dogs, or man and dogs)
| Avoid...
- expressions that elevate humans above other animals (human kindness, the rational species, the sanctity of human life)
- human-nonhuman comparisons that patronize nonhumans (almost human, Chimpanzees have many human characteristics)
- hierarchical references to animals (lower animals; subhuman; inferior)
- dismissive just, mere, only, and even before animal terms ( a mere beetle; They're just animals)
- pejorative nonhuman-animal metaphors and similies (bitch; to parrot; eat like a pig)
- the imprecise, demeaning terms beast, brute, and dumb animal
- terms that portray nonhumans relatively free of human control and genetic manipulation as dangerous or inferior (wild animals; mongrel; mutt)
- category labels that vilify nonhumans (vermin; pests; trash fish)
- category labels that depict nonhuman animals in a particular situation as animals of a particular type (lab animal; poultry; companion animal)
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| Nonhuman Thought and Feeling |
Use...
- words that directly attribute thought and feeling to nonhuman animals (understand; joy; eager)
- verbs that imply nonhuman emotion and intention (romped instead of leaped about; fled instead of ran)
- connecting words that invest nonhuman action with purpose (bounded in for his supper; jumps onto the windowsill so that she can look outside; barked because someone rang the doorbell)
- strong words for intense human feeling (severe suffering; love rather than affection; pain rather than discomfort)
| Avoid...
- overqualified reference to nonhuman thought and feeling (seemed to recognize; as if she felt pain; This behavior might indicate loneliness)
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| Nonhuman Individuals |
Use...
- he for a male animal, she for a female, and she/he or he/she for a hermaphrodite -- not it
- she or he for a particular individual of unknown gender (She [a chipmonk] lives under the porch. He [a roaming cat] ran off before I could get near)
- they for an unspecified individual of unknown gender (Whenever I see a turtle on the road, I move them to safety; If another hawk comes, let's watch them through binoculars; One of the puppies [among males and females] already had their vaccinations)
- a singular sex-specific pronoun when a singular indefinite term, such as any or each, refers to group members of the same sex (Every cow stayed close to her calf; Any cock who tried to escape had his neck wrung; Each earthworm struggled when she/he was pierced by the hook)
- they when a singular indefinite term refers to members of a group that includes individuals of different sexes or unknown sex (Neither deer [a buck and a doe] recovered from their wounds; Each alligator had so little space that they barely could move)
- who (not that, which, or what) for any sentient beings
- anybody/anyone, everybody/everyone, nobody/no one, and somebody/someone (not anything, everything, nothing, or something) for any sentient beings
- relational references to nonhuman animals afer possessive pronouns (my cat companion, not my cat; our canary friends, not our canaries)
- personal names for nonhuman animals (Sally; Max)
- the most specific nontechnical way of referrring to a particular nonhuman (Toby the horned toad rather than a horned toad; a beagle rather than a dog; an albino rat rather than a Sprague-Dawley rat)
- language that correctly distinguishes nonhuman individuals from their groups (killed a member of an endangered species; not killed an endangered species, captured birds of 22 species, not captured 22 species of birds)
- inflected animal plurals in preference to uninflected (many fishes rather than many fish; five trouts rather than five trout; three quails rather than three quail)
- plural forms of words for individual animals in preference to collective nouns (the chickens instead of the flock; free-living nonhumans instead of wildlife; the ants instead of the colony)
- number (not amount) references to living animals (how many geese, not how much geese; catch three catfishes, not catch eight pounds of catfish; some of the cows, not part of the herd)
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Avoid...
- language that replaces nonhuman animals with a site (poisoned the fish tank; pig farms that experience disease)
- reference to living animals as if they were remains (raise beef; trophy hunter; fur trapper)
- reference to remains as if they were living animals (milk-fed veal; grain-fed beef; a turkey in reference to turkey remains
- terms that equate nonhuman animals with insentient things (the oyster crop; reference to mice as research tools; reference to sharks as killing machines)
- commodity references to nonhuman animals (livestock; surplus dogs and cats; reference to male chicks as egg-industry byproducts)
- language that conveys a proprietary view of nonhuman animals (fisheries; wildlife conservation; Vandals killed the zoo's falcon)
- reference to nonhumans as human-created (build a better cow; genetically engineered mice; trout production)
- terms that negate any animal's uniqueness (replacement lambs: standardized dogs; reference to nonhumans as renewable resources)
- reference to all members of a group as if they were a single animal (the woodpecker for all woodpeckers; the silverfish for silverfishes in general)
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| Speciesist Abuse |
Use...
- everyday language free of jargon (stab with a large hook, not gaff, breaking the neck, not cervical dislocation)
- moralistic language (murder, cruelty, speciesism), not morally detached language such as that of economics, experimentation, or recreation
- political terms with legal implications (animal rights; justice; personhood
- equally strong words for human and nonhuman suffering or death (extreme; tragic; terrible)
- wording that keeps nonhuman animals in view (Many pigs died, not Mortality was high; The trapped fox struggled, not Struggling occurred)
| Avoid...
- expressions that trivialize violence toward nonhuman animals (kill two birds with one stone; have other fish to fry)
- euphamisms for abuse (fur farming; animal agriculture; biomedical research for vivisection)
- euphamisms for animal-derived products (leather, sausage, veal)
- understatements about nonhuman suffering and death (Zoos may not be ideal homes; Hunters don't always aim perfectly)
- positive words in reference to abuse (farm-animal welfare; humane treatment in reference to vivisection; educational in reference to aquaprisons or zoos)
- oxymorons (humane slaughter; necessary evil; shooting preserve; responsible breeding)
- terms that naturalize the unnatural (habitat for a cage; wildlife center for a zoo; naturalist for someone who studies imprisoned nonhumans)
- terms that disguise killing as protection (shelter for a facility where healthy nonhumans are killed; wildlife refuge for a place where hunting or fishing is allowed)
- words that glamorize inbreeding (thoroughbreds; purebred dogs; improved turkeys)
- language that blames nonhuman victims (an orangutan who escapes from a zoo and stubbornly resists recapture; elephants punished for rebelling against circus enslavement)
- expressions that imply nonhuman victimization is natural and acceptable (work like a horse; human guinea pig; treated us like animals)
- wording that portrays nonhumans as willing victims (monkeys who participate in experiments and give their lives; a captured octopus who took up residence in an aquaprison)
- over- terms that implicitly sanction less-rampant killing and less-extreme coercion (overhunt; overfish; overwork a horse)
- language that depicts choice as necessity (necessary evil in reference to vivisection; carnivores or predators in reference to humans)
- reference to abusers as protectors (animal lover in reference to a vivisector; animal welfarist in reference to a cattle enslaver)
- punning or other wordplay that invites people to smirk at atrocities (the title They Eat Horses, Don't They? or You Can Lead a Horse to Slaughter for an article on horse slaughter; the slogan Don't Gobble Me or Thanksgiving is Murder on Turkeys intended to protest turkeys' mass murder)
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