Animals dont get insulted if you call them pets

[RitaBix]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8479391/Calling-animals-pets-is-insulting-academics-claim.html

I cant even think af anything to say. I am flabbergasted

[PinkFondantFancy]

My MIL thinks her dog is a human baby.....

[lilyliz]

if my dog was'nt well could I claim cares allowance ?

[Salmotrutta]

Heard it all now.....................

"Free-living" as opposed to "wild-life" too ................ hahahhaha

Who exactly is it offensive to? I'm damned sure the pets don't care.

Although we all know someone who treats their pet like a baby don't we? Usually to the detriment of the pet.

[pjmama]

What a load of crap.

[emptyshell]

Shit - I can't call the dog Rotten Farting Beastie anymore?!

How about SlobberChops?

or GerrOffTheSofa

I know the three legged cat gets incredibly pissed off at being called Tripod.

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

Tripod is a brilliant name for any four legged animal missing a limb.

[ilovemydogandMrObama]

Personally, I like, 'non human animal companion'

[tabulahrasa]

I apologized to one of the cats, told her that I realize now that referring to her as a pet insulted her and that any such insult was unintentional. That of course I didn't actually own her (even though I paid for her) and we were partners in a mutually beneficial equal relationship.

She looked deeply and meaningfully into my eyes, then went off to lick her bum on the windowsill.

Do you think she's forgiven me?

[diabolo]

Odd! Very odd.

I love my dog, but he is just a dog! A pet! Who (as tabulahrasa says, licks his bum and erm... other areas, quite a lot.

[Pagwatch]

Oh , the guy involved was on radio 5 and he is lovely!

His point was ( he said) that if we demean any group through language then that permeates the way society treats them. Like women in the 70s ( he said).

He was very nice. Leave him alone.

>

[MikeOxstiff]

emptyshel
three legged cat called tripod

That is the funnyist thing I have heard this year

mind you I am tipsy
I will wake up at 3am laughing at this

[melpomene]

Anyone who is concerned about animal welfare would do better by campaigning against factory farming, rather than worrying about the semantics of whether a well-treated dog or cat is called a pet or a companion animal.

[Honeybee79]

After a very long and very shit day this has cheered me up a treat.

[BanalChelping]

Is it April 1st?

[Psammead]

Ok. Ok.

I sort of see the thinking behind it. Stop using language which sets 'us' against 'them' and society will stop thinking along the lines of superiority/inferiority etc and all living things will be treated equally and with respect.

Except with all the sexist, homophobic, racist, classist, disabilist, ageist language that is bandied around, the word 'pet' is the least of our worries.

And the guy who researched this has obviously never had a cat. Only cat owners know what it is really like to be looked upon with pure, unadulerated disdain, disrespect and in some cases, hatred.

[Pagwatch]

yes. Cat owner know all about dismissive, contemptuous treatment.

[Psammead]

Yes, exactly.

Frankly, the day he stops shitting in the vegetable patch is the day I stop callng him a little bastard pet.

My cat, that is. Not the nice Oxford man.

[MadameCastafiore]

Just called my labradoodle a pet and she said she doesn;t give a shit as long as I feed her and take her for a walk!

She has a male name though and has only once mind you taken offence and told me she would like to be called something a tad more feminine!

[Pagwatch]

[snort] at oxford man shitting in the veggie patch.

I will treat PenisDog with all the respect due to one who lies around licking his balls all day and needs his bum hair clipped or he cannot shit unaided.
Always. Promise.

[Honeydragon]

I married my hairy companion.

The putrid blubber beast four legged hairy companion is asleep on the floor with dd, they are both snoring and farting companionably.

I quite like being promoted to human carer, it's a step up from shit scooper.

[Honeydragon]

BeerTricks

Purely out of academic curiousity, now do the same, replacing the word "pet" with ""Fanjo", then report back, please.