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Anthros and Language
15 years ago
General
The English language is full of animal-related references. "Wolfing down your food" and "Catting around". Also, there are words that relate specifically to Humans. Like humanity.
Be careful when you use these terms in your writing. Because remember, we're talking about anthropomorphic animals.
I can't count the number of times I've seen the term "Gym-rat" in a furry story. Which makes me snicker, because I can't imagine rats being very gym-related. It'd be a funny stereotype to explain, so its inclusion just makes me laugh every time I see it.
Recently I also saw "they formed a human chain" in a book. Which made me stop and say, "Wait..." Sure, it conveys the information in a very quick and simple reference, but it's still funny to see it considering there's no humans in the world. :)
Be mindful of what you use.
Be careful when you use these terms in your writing. Because remember, we're talking about anthropomorphic animals.
I can't count the number of times I've seen the term "Gym-rat" in a furry story. Which makes me snicker, because I can't imagine rats being very gym-related. It'd be a funny stereotype to explain, so its inclusion just makes me laugh every time I see it.
Recently I also saw "they formed a human chain" in a book. Which made me stop and say, "Wait..." Sure, it conveys the information in a very quick and simple reference, but it's still funny to see it considering there's no humans in the world. :)
Be mindful of what you use.
pj wolf
~pyrostinger
Having animal people be protagonists often makes me think reaaaaaaally hard about the simple turns of phrase we've come to use so often.
Khris_Kazeras
~khriskazeras
This sort of thing does tend to stick out like a sore thumb, doesn't it? Usually I find that the easiest way to ease into the mindset of forming new phrases to substitute for the old ones is thinking of derogatory terms one would use for different species (i.e. 'wormtail' for rats, 'tadpole' for waterborne species, etc.). It makes one think of a species' traits which can be used to craft new phrases. It works for me, at least, so I figure it could work for others.
threetails
~threetails
That was one I worked on too. I settled on "creature" as the pronoun of choice (e.g. creature-at-arms, helmscreature, salescreature) because Brian Jacques already snagged "beast" 20 years before me.
Rechan
~rechan
OP
I will say I liked "creature". That's a nice one.
