Politically Correct 

Years ago, in a board meeting for a large humane organization, I said something like "The dog in the street knows when he is hungry."  A friend suggested I should say "it" instead of "he."  He said that we wouldn't want to anthropomorphize the dog.  In this same vein, some stuffy scientific types want us to use "that" rather than "who" as a relative pronoun when referring to animals. My friend in the board meeting was suggesting it is unscientific to ascribe human feelings and emotions to an animal by using he, she, his, her or hers.

Well, after a career as an engineer, I'm as scientific as the next guy, but I admit I think of my dogs as little people.  I can tell when they are happy or sad—feel good or bad—and they can tell the same things about me.  Sorry, scientific world, but to me Peachy and Princess are like my kids, and I'll always think of those two girls as "she."

People try to manage the language to press their political points of view.  While we used to say (even though not very grammatically) "everyone has their favorite color," it saved us from assigning a gender to "everyone."  Some years ago the women's liberation proponents were fairly successful in getting us to use "his or her" in place of "their."  And they were pretty effective in doing away with "mankind" instead of using their preferred "humankind."  I'm sympathetic to this idea of equalizing the sexes.  I'll admit I like it lots better than trying to think of Peachy as an "it."

During my lifetime, we've run through a whole progression of words for blacks or African Americans.  Use the wrong word and you're sure to insult or hurt feelings.  I try to be especially sensitive to this stricture, and I hope I always will be.

Animal rightists are not above a little language tinkering.  They recoil at the word, pet, and insist upon "companion animal."  The idea is this elevates the status of the animal.  I've tried over the years to use "companion animal," but the word, pet, keeps working into my writings.  In no way does the awkward, Latinate phrase, companion animal, make my pet seem better.  My pet is something I love, caress, take care of, and defend.  After a very few humans, there is nothing I love more than my pets.

In one of my recent blogs, I talked about a new dog in our house as an "acquisition."  That drew a comment from a good friend, Diana, who pointed out that "acquisition" connotes purchase or ownership and non-human animals deserved better descriptions than that.  Diana, thank you; you're absolutely correct, and my use of the word was insensitive, especially for someone who has had pets his whole life and tries to be an advocate for animals.

For many years now, I've thought of myself as an animal rightist, but I've also come to realize that I don't always speak that language correctly.

Les Inglis