Transcript of “Can an Animal be a Somebody?”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, my name is Chris Freeman.
I’m in Northampton, Massachusetts right now.
I’m calling because I was at my parents’ house a few weeks ago now with our new dog.
And my mom is not a dog person.
She loves a lot of people, but not dogs.
And she was really worried about her new couch and rug and kind of anxiously protecting it from all kinds of hazards, like drinks and children, but mostly from my dog, Fergus.
I said to her, you know, how can you love this stuff more than somebody that I love so much?
And she said, that’s not somebody, that’s something.
And I firmly disagreed.
And we had our, you know, a little debate about it.
And she ended up looking it up in the dictionary.
And the dictionary definition said that it has to be a person or use the word.
It says that it’s any person.
But I feel like that’s too limited of a definition.
And it makes in calling a whether it’s an animal or anything, any living being, some thing just feels not right.
And so anyway, I’m calling because I’m wondering if there’s a better word other than something to describe some, you know, an animal or a pet or, you know, somebody we love.
Okay.
Well, first of all, what kind of dog is Fergus?
I’m just curious.
He’s an Australian Shepherd.
Oh, nice.
He’s a smart dog.
Yeah, Chris, this is really fascinating.
You raise a lot of fascinating questions here because I know of no dictionary that defines the word somebody without specifying that it refers to a person or human being.
But boy, do we really want to speak technically and strictly all the time?
I mean, I guess you can argue that it’s a mistake to anthropomorphize animals and give them qualities that we think are uniquely human.
But I got to tell you, in our household, we have four cats.
And my wife and I have both been known to slip up and say, you people need to stop scratching the furniture.
You know, sometimes we just don’t think and we say, you people.
The more I live with animals, Chris, the more I’m inclined to use the pronoun who rather than that when talking about them, you know, or at least about the animals I live with.
I mean, is there a difference between what you would use for pets and wild animals?
I don’t know if I would say the grizzly bear who just killed an elk.
You know, you’re raising all kinds of questions.
My mind is just swimming here.
Well, it makes me think also of like when somebody dies, like they’re a lifeless body is no longer somebody.
Right. It’s like there’s a there’s a humanity.
There’s like a certain amount of like connection that you have that we have with other living beings and but it’s also strange to just put it as living because like plants you wouldn’t say somebody about a plant but that’s living but when something has a personality when you have desires and shows empathy and affection it just feels too disconnected to call them an it right.
Calling them an it or a thing kind of removes their, yeah, somehow treats them less than, right?
Removes their dignity almost.
Exactly.
But I agree with everything you’re both saying.
But on the other side, if I were to say somebody was in the doghouse, you might think I meant a person who was in trouble with their spouse rather than a dog was in a little shelter.
Right?
You’re probably more likely thought I meant a person than a dog.
Yeah, probably.
I mean, it really depends on context, though.
Yeah, exactly.
What if I said somebody was in the barn?
Yeah, or somebody’s at the bird feeder.
Yeah, somebody’s at the bird feeder.
There’s a neighbor standing there eating the millet.
Yeah, but I’m with you.
We talked to the cats, too.
It was like, all right, exactly like you, Martha, we’re like, well, if somebody hadn’t put their whiskers on my nose at 4 a.m., I might have gotten some sleep last night.
Exactly.
But, you know, body.
And there’s a whole other classes of words here, Chris, too.
Nobody, everybody, anybody, someone, everyone.
Does the body and the one in all of those words, do they only refer to people?
Kind of?
Maybe?
No?
Oh, it really, like Martha says, it’s context dependent.
Body has been used to refer to a person for at least 700 years.
Body alone, you know, it does a body good.
You know that expression?
It does a body good to, you know, relax once in a while.
Body meaning a person, not your physical body, but I mean your personhood.
So, but I’m generally with you.
I think in your case, your dispute with your mom comes through her feelings towards dogs in general and her feelings towards the way she wants to protect her house.
It’s one thing to take a dictionary and use it as a usage guide, which I don’t always recommend because that’s a little circular.
Dictionaries kind of get their evidence from the people.
And then to use a dictionary to say, well, now I’m going to tell the people how to speak because the dictionary used the evidence of how those people speak.
That just goes around and around.
So I think your argument with her is a little clouded by both your relationship with her and her relationship with dogs.
So it’s not really a linguistic conversation, is it?
Right, yeah.
There probably were a lot more layers to it than that.
Well, Chris, I am absolutely certain that there are going to be lots of folks who want to weigh in on this.
I agree.
Chris, thank you so much for bringing this topic to our attention.
And we require one thing of you.
You must send us a picture of Fergus.
Oh, gladly.
At least one.
Yes, I have plenty.
And that address for you and for all of our listeners is words@waywordradio.org.
Let us know what you think about this topic or call 877-929-9673.
Chris, thank you so much for your call.
Thanks for having me.
All right.
Thanks, Chris.
Bye-bye.
All right.
Bye.
Well, we know that you have thoughts on this matter.
How do you, do you think that somebody and anybody and someone and everyone can be used to refer to animals?
Are those just reserved for people?
Email words@waywordradio.org.
And the address for cats and dogs is wolf, wolf, meow, meow, meow, meow, wolf, wolf.
