50+ Words That Describe Animals (Including Humans)

50+ Words That Describe Animals (Including Humans) 50+ Words That Describe Animals (Including Humans) 50+ Words That Describe Animals (Including Humans) By Mark Nichol As much as many humans have tried to deny, or have conveniently ignored, that Homo sapiens is just another species of fauna, writers readily use animals or their (sometimes supposed) characteristics to describe people. Words like catty, dogged, foxy, and slothful all attest to the vivid imagery that easily arises when we compare people to various other species. In addition, we speak and write of somebody eating like a bird (to refer to light gustatory habits, though many birds seem downright voracious if you watch them dining), drinking like a fish, or behaving like a bull in a china shop. Some idioms, however, contradict each other, such as â€Å"Work like a dog† and â€Å"(living) a dog’s life.† Simple adjectives such as those in the first paragraph are more useful for narrative descriptions of people than the idiomatic phrases just above, but Latinate terms for animals can be even more helpful in describing people. Among the examples below, some, such as those for references to dogs (â€Å"canine loyalty†) and cats (â€Å"feline grace†), are perhaps too ubiquitous to be effective. Asinine, on the other hand, is more recognizable as a term to describe a human characteristic than in its original usage (in this case, to refer to a donkey), which might spoil it for literary allusion. Yet others, such as anguine, a word for a snake, may be too obscure to be helpful (though its synonyms serpentine and viperine are rich in descriptive force). And how about using taurine to describe a glowering bruiser, or lupine for a predatory lothario, or vulpine for a cunning schemer? You might even go out on an evolutionary limb and use pavonine to refer to a male fashion plate. (Your readers can always look it up.) Alternatively, give your humorous novel a Dickensian flair with a rapacious Mr. Selachian, a harridan named Mrs. Soricine, or a prickly or sharp-tongued person dubbed Miss Hystricine or Master Vespa. If nothing else, simply employ the terms below as inspirations for drawing, in words, your fictional characters or nonfictional subjects: acciptrine (falcon, hawk) anatine, anserine (goose) anguine, colubrine, elapine, serpentine, viperine (snake) apic, apian, apiarian (bee) aquiline (eagle) arachnine, arachnoid (spider) asinine (donkey) batrachian, ranine (frog, toad) bovine (cow, bison) cancrine (crab) canine (dog) caprine (goat) cervine (deer, elk, moose) cetacean, cetaceous (whale) corvine (crow) cygnine (swan) delphine (dolphin, porpoise) dipterous (fly) elephantine, proboscine, proboscidean (elephant) equine (horse) eusuchian (alligator) feline (cat) formic, myrmecine (ant) galline (chicken) gastropodian (snail) helminthic, vermian (worm) larine (gull) leporine, leverine (hare, rabbit) lupine (wolf) murine (mouse, rat) musteline (badger, ferret, weasel) noctillionine, pteropine (bat) ostracine (oyster) otarine, phocine (seal) ovine (sheep) passerine (bird) pavonine (peacock) pieridine, pierine (butterfly) piscine (fish) porcine (pig) sciurine (squirrel) scyphozoan (jellyfish) simian (ape, monkey) soricine (shrew) taurine (bull) testudine (tortoise) ursine (bear) vespine (wasp, hornet) vituline (calf) vulpine (fox) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 English Grammar Rules You Should Know16 Misquoted QuotationsList of 50 Compliments and Nice Things to Say!

Militarization of the US Mexico Broder essays

Militarization of the US Mexico Broder essays Militarization of the U.S. Mexico Border  ¡Corranle, allà ­ viene la migra!, translated into English, this means Run, there comes immigration! This is what illegal immigrants shout everyday when they are about to cross the Rio Grande in search for better lives. Unfortunately, not many get through alive because of the militarization that has developed on the U.S. border with Mexico. Operation Rio Grande continues a process put in motion over a century ago by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. It tries to erase the reality of a social geographical order that defies neat national divisions and impose a narrow notion of citizenship on people on both sides of the international boundary. In the process, the U.S., like all countries to varying degrees, elevates national citizenship to a position of primacy and lessens the inherent humanity of those on the wrong side of the social and territorial boundaries. Operation Rio Grande, launched in August 1997, in Brownsville, Texas, was a special multi-year operation designed to gain and maintain control of specific border areas through a combination of new technology and additional staffing. At the start of the operation, 69 Border Patrol agents were detailed to Brownsville to intensify existing enforcement effort. In September of that same year, the Border Patrol deployed special response teams to those ports-of-entry where increased numbers of fraudulent entry was expected. In the Fiscal Year of 1998, 260 new Border Patrol agents were added to the McAllen Sector and 205 to the Laredo Sector. An important feature of Operation Rio Grande has been the integration of a broad range of INS enforcement operations. Studies show that the crime rate in Brownsville alone dropped by more than 20% in 1998. (U.S. INS) The origins of the U.S. Mexico boundary are to be found in the imperial competition between Spain, France, and Britain for possessions in North Amer...