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Insight on the Usage of the Term "Furry"
15 years ago
And now for some completely different. ... Wait, no.
![[koh]](//a.furaffinity.net/20251111/[koh].gif "[koh]")
[koh]'s recent journal based off of 
keto's recent journal essentially mentioned how he felt awkward to referring to himself as a "furry" in the common sense that people attribute to the term. Sure one of his main points was that say "I'm a furry" would make him sound as sissy as... ... well, sissy. But the main quote that really caught my attention and got me thinking was this:
"If I was on the divine council that came up with the name for this fandom, we sure as fuck wouldn't be called furries." - Koh
Yeah, it is a little too late now to go back in time and rename the fandom to something a bit more politically (HSSSS!) correct, but... why do we use the term "furry" so much? Why do we insist on using such a broad term to refer to everything even if it doesn't work?
Well, I commented back in his journal saying, "Someone should really codify and properly name things within the furry community. ... *takes up the slack* And that's what I'm going to do.
First off, I'm going to mention as many fandom-exclusive terms within our wonderful community that has the words "fur" or "furry" in it, and give a brief definition on how each word is used for analysis.
fur or furry n. - An anthropomorphic creature that bares physical attributes of both humans and animals
fur or furry n. - An anthropomorphic creature that bares physical attributes of both humans and animals, but only animals that have fur
fur or furry n. - A member of the furry fandom
fur or furry n. - A member of the furry fandom, especially one that portrays him-/herself as an anthropomorphic creature of his/her own making
fur or furry n. - A member of the furry fandom, especially one that portrays him-/herself as an anthropomorphic creature of his/her own making, and believes that he/she is in fact their character
furry adj. - A descriptive term used to refer to something that may display some sort of relation to the furry community.
furry artist n. - An artist that draws anthropomorphic creatures or incorporates said creatures into other forms of artwork
furry artist n. - An artist that draws anthropomorphic creatures of incorporates said creatures into other forms of artwork, but does not consider him-/herself a furry or member of the furry fandom
fursuit n. - A manufactured costume that is built to resemble an anthropomorphic creature.
fursuiter n. - A member of the furry community that enjoys wearing fursuits for enjoyment
fursuiter n. - A member of the furry community that enjoys wearing frusuits for enjoyment and sex
furfag n. - A derogatory term used by non-furries and anti-furries; term is based on the false premise that all members of the furry fandom are homosexual men
furfag n. - A whimsical term used by furries to refer to themselves; a positive and retaliative spin on the derogatory version of the same term; term is used to describe any fur regardless of sexual preference
furry fandom/community n. - A subculture community of people enthused and fascinated with anthropomorphic creatures.
... Okay, I think that's enough. I think it's clear that there a few terms on here that have multiple meanings that are fairly close, and often mistaken for one another. Some were purposefully overblown, but still...
I believe the really big problems involving ambiguity between terms is with "furry/fur" itself, pretty much because it's used in EVERY FREAKIN' TERM THAT HAS TO DO WITH THIS COMMUNITY. You should probably get that one squared away first. And then we fix the "furry" in "furry fandom/community".
To me, as I said in Koh's journal, "furry" should probably be reserved to mean "an anthropomorphic creature that bares physical attributes of both humans and animals, but only animals that have fur", if that. Even then it doesn't really help, because some of these animals have different types or levels of fur, or it's called hair instead of fur, or something like that. ... So I guess "furry" is kind of a stupid term all around, when you think about it.
Now the fandom/community conundrum. Well, we have "Anthrocon", so why not "Anthro Fandom" and "Anthro Community"? Or even "Therian Community"? ... Wait is that taken by the therianthropes and otherkin? ... Eh, they're weird. Therianthropy and Anthropomorphism are too ridiculously similar terms. But at least their more all-encompassing of those who participate in the fandom than just "Furry".
... ... Eh, long journal is long and I'm bloody tired. But this is definitely something in need of mulling over later. Go ahead and mull over it if you want. I'm out for now.
Peace.
![[koh]](http://a.furaffinity.net/20251111/[koh].gif "[koh]")
[koh]'s recent journal based off of 
keto's recent journal essentially mentioned how he felt awkward to referring to himself as a "furry" in the common sense that people attribute to the term. Sure one of his main points was that say "I'm a furry" would make him sound as sissy as... ... well, sissy. But the main quote that really caught my attention and got me thinking was this:"If I was on the divine council that came up with the name for this fandom, we sure as fuck wouldn't be called furries." - Koh
Yeah, it is a little too late now to go back in time and rename the fandom to something a bit more politically (HSSSS!) correct, but... why do we use the term "furry" so much? Why do we insist on using such a broad term to refer to everything even if it doesn't work?
Well, I commented back in his journal saying, "Someone should really codify and properly name things within the furry community. ... *takes up the slack* And that's what I'm going to do.
First off, I'm going to mention as many fandom-exclusive terms within our wonderful community that has the words "fur" or "furry" in it, and give a brief definition on how each word is used for analysis.
fur or furry n. - An anthropomorphic creature that bares physical attributes of both humans and animals
fur or furry n. - An anthropomorphic creature that bares physical attributes of both humans and animals, but only animals that have fur
fur or furry n. - A member of the furry fandom
fur or furry n. - A member of the furry fandom, especially one that portrays him-/herself as an anthropomorphic creature of his/her own making
fur or furry n. - A member of the furry fandom, especially one that portrays him-/herself as an anthropomorphic creature of his/her own making, and believes that he/she is in fact their character
furry adj. - A descriptive term used to refer to something that may display some sort of relation to the furry community.
furry artist n. - An artist that draws anthropomorphic creatures or incorporates said creatures into other forms of artwork
furry artist n. - An artist that draws anthropomorphic creatures of incorporates said creatures into other forms of artwork, but does not consider him-/herself a furry or member of the furry fandom
fursuit n. - A manufactured costume that is built to resemble an anthropomorphic creature.
fursuiter n. - A member of the furry community that enjoys wearing fursuits for enjoyment
fursuiter n. - A member of the furry community that enjoys wearing frusuits for enjoyment and sex
furfag n. - A derogatory term used by non-furries and anti-furries; term is based on the false premise that all members of the furry fandom are homosexual men
furfag n. - A whimsical term used by furries to refer to themselves; a positive and retaliative spin on the derogatory version of the same term; term is used to describe any fur regardless of sexual preference
furry fandom/community n. - A subculture community of people enthused and fascinated with anthropomorphic creatures.
... Okay, I think that's enough. I think it's clear that there a few terms on here that have multiple meanings that are fairly close, and often mistaken for one another. Some were purposefully overblown, but still...
I believe the really big problems involving ambiguity between terms is with "furry/fur" itself, pretty much because it's used in EVERY FREAKIN' TERM THAT HAS TO DO WITH THIS COMMUNITY. You should probably get that one squared away first. And then we fix the "furry" in "furry fandom/community".
To me, as I said in Koh's journal, "furry" should probably be reserved to mean "an anthropomorphic creature that bares physical attributes of both humans and animals, but only animals that have fur", if that. Even then it doesn't really help, because some of these animals have different types or levels of fur, or it's called hair instead of fur, or something like that. ... So I guess "furry" is kind of a stupid term all around, when you think about it.
Now the fandom/community conundrum. Well, we have "Anthrocon", so why not "Anthro Fandom" and "Anthro Community"? Or even "Therian Community"? ... Wait is that taken by the therianthropes and otherkin? ... Eh, they're weird. Therianthropy and Anthropomorphism are too ridiculously similar terms. But at least their more all-encompassing of those who participate in the fandom than just "Furry".
... ... Eh, long journal is long and I'm bloody tired. But this is definitely something in need of mulling over later. Go ahead and mull over it if you want. I'm out for now.
Peace.
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IMHO The defining was spot-on.
I always thought of it as one of those "What if it existed" scenarios. Individual specie mixes would have their own Latin names, and the common term among the rest of the world would be anthropoid's or anthro's... It just appears that the current social structure would define it as such.
Undoubtedly there would also be a whole slew of rights violations and equality banter that would last for decades... But I wont go into that detail.
Rather, I'm interested in hearing the Native American terms for therian and otherkin.
No offense, but looking for a new title is in all means pointless at this stage in the community. Though I admire your intent.
I've been recently working on organize species for my story - almost all of which are anthropomorphic versions of Earthling animals with a few aliens mixed in - and this query did pop every now and then, but only now have I actually tried to look deeper into it. With all of the "all-encompassing" terms that we use to describe animals with it gets pretty confusing after a while to figure out what people mean, and these inconsistencies, if they existed, lead to rights violations and equality banter as you said. Hell, we have that issue now with humans. There are some people that find it so ridiculously touchy when scientists or whoever try to create human types and group them together. (Personally I don't find that touchy one bit; I rather find it interesting who people decide to physiologically analyze and compile different breeds of humans together.) Whether anthros/therians decide to throw tantrums on being generalized is up to them, because, as you said, it's a what if scenario.
In a minor portion of the story I'm working on, any sort of generalizing name done amongst anthros is for the most part playful and innocent (for example, describing any creature with hooves as "hoofers"), but in some cases these terms or different ones are tossed around in derogatory fashions, most of which are caused due to animosity between anthros and bitter humans. Haven't figured out what those are, though.. since I'm not mean enough. :P
Anyways, thanks for your input. :)
... And I just realized that I should've put an "of" in the journal title after "usage".
Physiology, Endowment, Sensory advantages...
Just think of people that hate you for what you are, and see it from their point of view. More often than not, its just fear of what they don't understand.
But after things settled, yeah, what you listed basically covers why humans don't like anthros very much. :/
THEY'RE JUST JEALOUS. :P