Rehabilitating the dingo

There is an idea related to speciesism (our prejudice against creatures other than the human race) that the language we use allows us to regard animals as lesser beings.  It follows the argument for non-sexist language that we should change the way we speak to change attitudes.

I would be delighted if we stop shouting ‘You great galah’ at people we think are stupid.  What the galah did do deserve this I don’t know. It is a perfectly intelligent bird and rather beautiful. I suspect it is just the sound of the word dragged out for emphasis that has a braying quality that seems appropriate.

There has been a shift in our attitudes to dingos that has resulted in us dropping the use of dingo to mean ‘a coward’. These days we are more respectful to dingos whereas before we used to shoot them on sight.

But there are other Australian creatures who would need to be considered in this rethink.  The wombat as a slow or stupid person.  Our dear muddleheaded wombat! Ruth Park has pulled me into the morass again.  Wombats are not muddle-headed. Having observed a number of them in the wild recently, I think they are business-like and efficient. Perhaps a bit careless or indifferent on the road.

A cockatoo is a lookout for a group of people involved in some illegal activity.  I don’t mind that one so much since if ever there was a larrikin of the bird world, it would have to be the sulphur-crested cockatoo.  I haven’t actually seen one in leathers riding a bike but I wouldn’t be surprised.

There are many entries at dog in the dictionary that would have to be removed.  Despite the fact that the dog is the most favoured companion animal, dog is a term for an informer in prison, and for a book that doesn’t sell.

Recently we have encountered this sensitivity as we addressed the issue of the monkey pox.  On the anti-speciesist side there is the argument that it is unfair to the monkeys because they weren’t the original carriers of the disease.  On the unreconstructed side there is the antipathy that humans have to the idea that they are sharing a pox with monkeys.  The WHO doesn’t seem to be able to find a way around this difficulty.

Some animals have escaped and are linguistically pure.  No one seems to have been tempted to make use of the echidna, whereas in British English the hedgehog was someone who was careless of the feelings of others.  A term of obloquy. And our platypus has splashed about with no comparisons with humans being made, positive or negative.

There is work to do in cleaning up our language act and being fair to other species.  At the moment it’s a dog’s breakfast.