Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Mommy and Daddy
Options
Comments
-
-
-
-
-
Call me Socket wrote: »Men refer to their cars as 'she'. That annoys the crap out of me, though embarrassingly it has slipped out of my own mouth a couple of times!
Cars, ships, planes, trains etc are often referred to as 'she' and I found out long ago its because like females, they are carriers/vessels of life in that they have people inside them.
Just some useless information.
As for my own dogs, I don't call them baby but i do talk to them like they are my best friends. I think out loud and run my thoughts by them and find they are great listeners!
It doesn't bother me what anyone calls their dogs as the dogs don't know, they are just familiar words they respond to. As for dressing them up (not for old age or greyhound coats etc.) thats just so wrong and cruel.0 -
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
Anthropomorphism means the projection of human characteristics onto non-human creatures, beings, phenomena or forces of nature.
quote]
glad i now know what that means.
auntie had a dog that was called boy. i had a girl dog when i was little that i insisted have a certain boys name ( was the name of a dog of a lad i had a crush on) my brothers cursed me for being cruel. we had a dog that was called pup and he was still pup when he years old.
all dogs in our family have names and are treated as individuals, whole family talks about each one by name even OH - now that took some training heh heh.
0 -
-
-
-
-
-
Sometimes it annoys me and sometimes it doesn't, it depends how the person uses the word. I call my rabbits my babies, and so does my neighbour who is forty something
But I wouldn't call myself their Mammy or anything. I kind of just say ''aww baby'' or ''are you hungry baby'', what does annoy me though when people say ''aww come up here to Mammy'' etc.0 -
Read this thread with interest, as I sometimes find myself referring to my cats as my babies, or my 'girls', and to myself as their mom (and frankly I find even referring to myself in the third person to be a bit disturbing). But I take this to mean (as they are the first pets I've had as a grown adult) that I am establishing a responsibility dynamic, or a pecking order, with them. I am at the top, they are lower. I think this is treating them in an adequately 'pet-like' fashion. At the same time, I love and adore them greatly, thus I give them doting pet names, calling them baby etc, as we humans tend to do with those we love. So I don't see it necessarily as anthopomorphic, simply an assigning of identity based on role and affection.
To pick up on a couple of things others said...There is no such thing as a "bad" or "evil" dog. The dog may be untrained, poorly socialised, frightened, acting on instinct or whatever, but it never is "bad" or "evil".
You're right, but do you mean to suggest there is such a thing as a bad or evil human being? Are not all humans born as innocent babies, who somehow grow into "bad" or "evil" adults, as a result of poor education, socialisation, trauma, whatever? I think while you mean to credit animals here, you are in fact doing a great disservice to human beings!
No, semantics matter. The meaning of words matter. Words, when delivered in a language we don't understand, are utterly meaningless. However, if you get the gist of what someone is saying, from their tone of voice / body language etc, that can impact on you. Think about any time you've had a confrontation with, or heard words of love from someone not speaking english. Even though the words they're using to you do not matter, they could be speaking gibberish, when you pick up on the meaning, through tone of voice / body language / whatever, suddenly the conversation has impact on you.Words matter.
This is how it is with animals. They don't know that "come to Mommy" means anything different than "come to CamillaRhodes". They understand tone of voice, body language, the dynamic which has been established between you on the basis of your training and relationship. The words don't matter a damn. So if I choose to be 'mommy', or if my cats are my 'babies', it doesn't make the slightest difference to them.
Having said all the above, I acknowledge that I am a person who tends to use affectionate terms in conversation with humans in my company, e.g. I'll say "thank you, love" to my assistant in work, will call my friend "sweetie", address my boyfriend as "babe". So, if you're the sort of person who hates all that cutesie sh*t, I imagine you'd be highly irritated by me But please don't take my love for my cats as anthropomorphism or idiocy - I simply extend the same degree of affection to all those for whom I hold affection, regardless of their species 
0 -
CamillaRhodes wrote: »You're right, but do you mean to suggest there is such a thing as a bad or evil human being?
This is going off topic, but let me put it this way ...dogs are incapable of deceit (self or otherwise)
EDIT:
Actually that's not entirely true. I have often watched one of our dogs fake interest in something in order to draw the other ones away from something it wanted ...but ..well ... ah, youknowahaddamean0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
Guineapigrescue wrote: »People also in general waited a bit longer to have kids so any pet they got was kind of their baby before the kids came along.
At least that's the way it was where I grew up.
quote] as i recall they were getting hitched and knocked up near enough as soon as they were old enough. durty beggars.0 -
-
"Baby" as an general endearment is American in origin.
Interesting re names. Always I have given names that reflect the animal. When we took in twin orphan lambs, they were simply Ram Lamb and Lamb Lamb. One of our rescued cats is simply Boycat; we were told initially he was female so there was a change made there
Sandy was her name when she came and she knew it. But when I call them it is mostly "Dogs!" It is the voice and tone they respond to of course.
We worked with someone in Canada with a "problem " dog;( we are trainers there)
It refused to come to its name. The man called it and sure enough, it did not come. Not a flicker.
" See what I mean? YOU ARE STUPID!" he yelled; and the dog came. He had called it stupid so often the dog thought that that was his name.
You can only say it is semantics and not words that matter if everyone is identical; clearly that is not so from this discussion.
Like EGAR find it annoying, but also see the loneliness of many old ones who only have a pet in their lives. Would that it were else.
Thankfully we are not clones.....Very interesting to read through this thread (I ignore the insults since I did not insult anyone, c'est la vie).
The emotional avalanche of the mommy and daddy posters is quite amazing and I wonder when all this started. When I was a child no one ever called their animal "Baby" - it is a relatively new trend IMHO and I wonder what set it off.
I don't "hate" anyone who does it - I just find it annoying.
My own dogs do not have human names but alot of the rescues have. I have rehomed well over a thousand dogs and I will never forget when a young couple from Dublin surrendered their dog to me because the girl was pregnant and "couldn't possible" have a dog AND a baby. The dog wore a leather collar with gold embossed letters: No 1 Son. Yeah right...
Lauagoesmad: the internet is a good tool for googling words one doesn't understand.0 -
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
We worked with someone in Canada with a "problem " dog;( we are trainers there)
It refused to come to its name. The man called it and sure enough, it did not come. Not a flicker.
" See what I mean? YOU ARE STUPID!" he yelled; and the dog came. He had called it stupid so often the dog thought that that was his name.
You can only say it is semantics and not words that matter if everyone is identical; clearly that is not so from this discussion.
Hi Sorella, I actually think we agree on this point, rather than disagreeing! Semantics are not always (or ever) fixed. Your case illustrates this clearly. The man did not have a good relationship with his dog, had not trained it well or established a dynamic with him. The dog recognised the word 'stupid' when stated by the owner loudly, and thought that was his name. Therefore the dog, trying to be a good dog, came running when he heard the word 'stupid' uttered at a particular town of voice.
This illustrates that the meaning of the word 'stupid' for the dog meant 'my name'. The dog did not understand english, nor understand that the term 'stupid' is pejorative. The dog was simply trying to please his master, but without the correct cues to do so. The word 'stupid' did not matter to him, what mattered was his understanding of the 'meaning' of that word for him. Thus, in general, words themselves don't matter.
So, whether I refer to my cat as 'cat' or as 'baby' makes little difference to the cat, or to the love I feel for the cat. What matters is the meaning behind the words I use; if I use them in a loving way, then the cat understands this and expresses love for me in return. If I shout at her while calling her 'baby', the affection in the word is lost entirely.
I think we're on the same page here, just looking at it from slightly different angles
Last comment: can I hazard a guess that those who object to people calling their pets their babies, or themselves their pets' mommies/daddies, are the same people who would object to being referred to as "love" or "mate" by a stranger, or as "darling" or "baby" by a loved one?
I think the use of affectionate pet names for humans can be pretty controversial, I've been told off by people for doing so (though I mean it with the best possible intentions). Is it maybe the same reason people don't like similar usage regarding animals?0
Advertisement