PETA Strikes Again: Stop Using 'Anti-Animal Language'

On Tuesday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) issued a tweet calling for human beings to stop using “anti-animal language” and using “speciesism” in conversations.

PETA demanded some changes to everyday language, including:

Substituting “Feed two birds with one scone,” for “kill two bird with one stone.”

Substituting “Be the test tube” for “Be the guinea pig.”

Substituting “Feed a fed horse” for “Beat a dead horse.”

Substituting “Bring home the bagels” for “Bring home the bacon.”

Substituting “take the flower for the thorns” for “take the bull by the horns.”

Capiche?

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. pic.twitter.com/o67EbBA7H4

— PETA (@peta) December 4, 2018

In the interest of helping the organization that in 2004 launched a “Holocaust on Your Plate” (HOYP) display, which contrasted images of animals in slaughterhouses and factory farms with images of people in Nazi concentration camps, here are some more phrases and statements they should address:

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

A fish rots from the head down

A leopard cannot change its spots

A pig in a poke

A red rag to a bull

A wolf in sheep’s clothing

Act the giddy goat

An albatross around one’s neck

Badger to death

Bats in the belfry

Bee in your bonnet

Bell the cat

(Let the) cat out of the bag

Chickens come home to roost

Crocodile tears

Curiosity killed the cat

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

Early bird catches the worm

Even a worm will turn

Fit as a butcher’s dog

Fly in the ointment

Get your goat

Go to the dogs

Hair of the dog that bit you

Has the cat got your tongue?

In a pig’s eye

Jump the shark

Kangaroo court

Lamb to the slaughter

Mad as a March hare

Make a pig’s ear of

Nest of vipers

No room to swing a cat

Pop goes the weasel

Pretty kettle of fish

Raining cats and dogs

Sacred cow

Stone the crows

Straw that broke the camel’s back

Till the cows come home

Weasel words

But then, PETA may have better things to do, such as freeing animal crackers from their cages. In August, Peta wrote in a letter to the makers of Barnum’s animal crackers, "Given the egregious cruelty inherent in circuses that use animals and the public's swelling opposition to the exploitation of animals used for entertainment, we urge Nabisco to update its packaging in order to show animals who are free to roam in their natural habitats.”

Or arguing that cheese is sexist, as they did in August 2017, stating, “Contrary to popular belief, female cows produce milk only when they’re pregnant or nursing. They make milk for the same reason that human women do: to feed their babies. Cows who are imprisoned on dairy farms are forcibly impregnated through artificial insemination again and again on rape racks. Rape racks. All for your milk, cheese, and yogurt.”

Or reportedly memorializing cows that died in a truck crash with billboards.

There may not be enough time for PETA to address all of those statements regarding animals, with everything else on their plate.