Terran to replace the word human

KingBrian2 · 2015-08-07 23:45:46

This might sound dumb but will we eventually start calling ourselves Terrans instead of humans. I mean human is a kinda sexist and besides Terran is so universal it can apply to anyone regardless of gender, race, age,politics, disability,nationality, ethnicity or culture

07-08-2015 11:45PM

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KingBrian2

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This might sound dumb but will we eventually start calling ourselves Terrans instead of humans. I mean human is a kinda sexist and besides Terran is so universal it can apply to anyone regardless of gender, race, age,politics, disability,nationality, ethnicity or culture

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#2 08-08-2015 02:38AM

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It might aid our discussion of this topic if you provided a source for the proposed relabeling of human to terran?

My understanding of "terran" is that it has been used to define life in a broader sense, not just human life. For example, astrobiologists have used terran and extraterran in their definitions of life on Earth and anticipated life on other planets in accordance with different theories of life. See Steven A. Benner, "Defining Life," Astrobiology, 2010 December, 10(10), pp 1021–1030.

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#3 21-08-2015 05:18PM

Amerika

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Wouldn’t it only make sense to use the term "Terran" only if life were proven to exist on other planets?

Which leads into another topic... If we did discover a single cell organism from another planet we would surely call it life. But here on earth, a fetus is not considered to be life by many. Does this make sense?

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#4 21-08-2015 05:20PM

Eugene Norman

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KingBrian2 wrote: »

This might sound dumb but will we eventually start calling ourselves Terrans instead of humans. I mean human is a kinda sexist and besides Terran is so universal it can apply to anyone regardless of gender, race, age,politics, disability,nationality, ethnicity or culture

Why is human sexist? Why can't human apply to those groups?

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#5 21-08-2015 05:20PM

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well... that escalated quickly!

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#6 21-08-2015 08:30PM

KingBrian2

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Eugene Norman wrote: »

Why is human sexist? Why can't human apply to those groups?

Well hu-man as opposed to hu- women but that is besides the point I am not going to debate about semantics. Simple put Terran is just a lot more appropriate as we search space and continue to explore under the sea, deep into the earth's floor and learning more and more about our atmosphere. We are all Terrans at heart.

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#7 23-08-2015 09:20PM

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tellurian

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#8 23-08-2015 09:35PM

PolaroidPizza

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but we would will constantly correcting aliens as to how to pronounce it...is it pronounce 'teh-ran' or 'tee-ran'

it would also be very confusing from all those Iranians from somewhere that isn't Tehran....at least there isn't a place on earth out there called 'Human'

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#9 18-09-2015 02:13AM

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Tellurian or terran?

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#10 18-09-2015 10:21PM

KingBrian2

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Black Swan wrote: »

Tellurian or terran?

Tellurian sound kinda nice or Tellople

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#11 19-09-2015 02:22AM

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What about using the shortened species name sapiens?

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#12 19-09-2015 10:33PM

KingBrian2

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Black Swan wrote: »

What about using the shortened species name sapiens?

Problem with that is homo sapiens and homo sapiens sapiens are two different types of humans.

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#13 20-09-2015 12:52AM

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Black Swan wrote: »

It might aid our discussion of this topic if you provided a source for the proposed relabeling of human to terran?

My understanding of "terran" is that it has been used to define life in a broader sense, not just human life. For example, astrobiologists have used terran and extraterran in their definitions of life on Earth and anticipated life on other planets in accordance with different theories of life. See Steven A. Benner, "Defining Life," Astrobiology, 2010 December, 10(10), pp 1021–1030.

KingBrian2 wrote: »

Problem with that is homo sapiens and homo sapiens sapiens are two different types of humans.

Terran does not work either, as it represents life forms on Earth, which includes more than just humans.

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#14 20-09-2015 01:09AM

endacl

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If we go with Terran, will the baddie still be the Mekon?

Terran is just a nice way of saying 'Earthling'. As we as yet have no other -ling to distinguish ourselves from, the term 'Terran' is redundant.

Also, Terran what. Terran human? Terran dog? Terran goldfish?

Silly idea. Best left in the pages of Starlord.

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#15 20-09-2015 11:07PM

KingBrian2

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endacl wrote: »

If we go with Terran, will the baddie still be the Mekon?

Terran is just a nice way of saying 'Earthling'. As we as yet have no other -ling to distinguish ourselves from, the term 'Terran' is redundant.

Also, Terran what. Terran human? Terran dog? Terran goldfish?

Silly idea. Best left in the pages of Starlord.

So you still up with calling us humans how about Earthlings, no other inhabitable life in this solar system.

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#16 20-09-2015 11:37PM

endacl

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Your basing your proposition on the supposition that the word 'human' is sexist, simply because it ends with the letters m-a-n, in that order, and took it to denote some gender bias, as in bin-man, or police-man. It's not. Those words you're confusing human with denote occupation or activity. 'Human' denotes state. You started with an etymological misunderstanding, and kinda took it from there.

In other words, given that X is true, we should do Y. If the premise regarding X is demonstrably not true, whether or not we do Y is moot.

TL;DR: Go ahead and refer to humanity any way you like. You'll just sound a bit odd to people who are familiar with the term and daft to people who aren't. And only to the 9% of the *ahem* Terran population who speak English.

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#17 20-09-2015 11:43PM

DivingDuck

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endacl wrote: »

Terran is just a nice way of saying 'Earthling'. As we as yet have no other -ling to distinguish ourselves from, the term 'Terran' is redundant.

Also, Terran what. Terran human? Terran dog? Terran goldfish?

I quite like the idea of us not calling ourselves after the planet we're from, as if we're the only species on it which matter.

It also makes us seem ever so slightly less arrogant... And in the event of interaction with an alien species, we could probably use all the help we can get on that front.

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#18 20-09-2015 11:48PM

StonyIron

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My cat is furious as he's also a Terran!

This is like the United Staters calling themselves "Americans" to the exclusion of everyone on the rest of the continent. 935.7 million Americans of which only 318 million are in the United States of America.

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#19 21-09-2015 08:38PM

KingBrian2

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StonyIron wrote: »

My cat is furious as he's also a Terran!

This is like the United Staters calling themselves "Americans" to the exclusion of everyone on the rest of the continent. 935.7 million Americans of which only 318 million are in the United States of America.

The United Staters are called Americans, for all types of reasons they live in America and are therefore called Americans.

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#20 21-09-2015 10:10PM

StonyIron

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so do Candians, Mexicans, Purivians, Columbians etc etc

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#21 21-09-2015 10:45PM

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...reminds me of possibly the funniest line ive read on this site ever

'American. North American most likely' thought Trent.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80652174#post80652174

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#22 21-09-2015 10:54PM

KingBrian2

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Second Toughest in_the Freshers wrote: »

...reminds me of possibly the funniest line ive read on this site ever

'American. North American most likely' thought Trent.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=80652174&postcount=71

What did I just read?

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#23 22-09-2015 09:17AM

endacl

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KingBrian2 wrote: »

What did I just read?

Satire.

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#24 20-11-2024 01:03AM

Robert333111

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Before we consider how the possibility of life on other planets could influence our language, I would just like to point out that the non-human animal life forms on this planet are equally entitled to that word.
Oh, hold on a moment - I'm also receiving a claim on this from the plants …

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