Learn English – PETA wants workers to “bring home the bagels”

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On December 4, the animal rights organization, PETA, asked anglophone speakers (in the US) to quit using anti-animal idioms cold turkey. In a Tweet they proselytized:

Words matter, and as our understanding of social justice evolves, our language evolves along with it. Here’s how to remove speciesism from your daily conversations.

and in a follow-up Tweet, they argued:

Just as it became unacceptable to use racist, homophobic, or ableist language, phrases that trivialize cruelty to animals will vanish as more people begin to appreciate animals for who they are and start ‘bringing home the bagels’ instead of the bacon.

Instead of “Kill two birds with one stone.” say “Feed two birds with one scone.”. Instead of “Be the guinea pig.” say “Be the test tube.”. Instead of “Beat a dead horse.” say “Feed a fed horse.”. Instead of “Bring home the bacon.” say “Bring home the bagels.”. Instead of “Take the bull by the horns.” say “Take the flower by the thorns.”.

It's tempting to think that this might be some sort of hoax but PETA is deadly serious. In fact, every Tweet posted by the organization has the tagline “Bringing home the bagels since 1980”.

Unfortunately for PETA, the new crusade was not received well by Twitter users, and many Tweets have since been issued mocking the animal protection society. The animal-friendly idioms that attracted most scorn seem to be: “feed two birds with one scone” and “bring home the bagels”. As a matter of fact, my spellchecker is underlying scone at this moment and telling me to spell it stone, but that would mean feeding two avians with a stone, which frankly sounds more horrific.

In any case, hold your horses before dismissing PETA's campaign to reform anti-animal idioms. There are examples of expressions and idioms that have fallen by the wayside, especially in the US, for fear of being misconstrued. For example, call a spade a spade, which Wikipedia says “The phrase predates the use of the word "spade" as an ethnic slur against African Americans, which was not recorded until 1928; however, in contemporary U.S. society, the idiom is often avoided due to potential confusion with the slur”. Another expression, used exclusively in the US–to the best of my knowledge–that is now heard less and less is cotton-picking as in “Just a cotton-pickin' minute” and “keep your cotton-picking hands off of me” with its clear historical references to black slaves and cotton plantations in the Southern United States.

My Questions

  • Why are the idioms listed speciesist?

  • How likely will we be seeing or hearing anti-animal idioms replaced with the ones suggested by PETA in the future? Why/why not?

  • In the history of English have there been any similar campaigns to remove or replace sexist, racist or ableist proverbs/maxims or idioms, and how successful were they?

Best Answer

Language itself is not racist, sexist, etc.

  • However, people use particular works or expressions to express group affiliation. When there is a group that holds a minority position on race relations, proper treatment of animals, etc., some people may use particular "code words" to identify themselves as sympathetic to that group's views. So then you see offensive language getting used with intent to offend.
  • Much more common is that majority norms about acceptable behavior change faster than the linguistic forms themselves; and so "offsensive" language gets used without the speaker realizing that they could be offending someone. Idiomatic expressions and placenames are especially slow to change.

In both cases, someone could get offended, but the differences is in the heart of the offender. Language is recognized as "offensive" once enough of the speech community has agreed that "we don't talk that way." You can have a medley of the two dynamics, too: a minority group (PETA in this example) wishes to consciously shift norms about what kinds of behavior is acceptable (hunting birds, etc.), and they start trying to push certain usages into the second box. But it's usually the other way around: first people agree that certain practices are wrong; then they adjust their language slowly afterwards.

To be fair to them, though, getting the majority group to start to reflect on what they are saying is often a first step at getting some recognition for minority rights. I think the tactic has been deployed successfully by feminists and other civil rights groups...and unsuccessfully by countless others.

I think it's an uphill battle indeed for PETA, since humans have been hunting and domesticating animals for over 10,000 years.We have even domesticated cats to kill rodents for us, enslaving the cat and multiplying the slaughter of pests. They may as well also start demanding celibacy across the board. You will know that PETA is successful if we stop using words like "husband", which, etymologically speaking, are doubly sexist and speciesist.

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