a drgn azure, couchant

The English language uses the root word "human" (and its derivatives, such as "humane", "humanity", etc.) in many confusing, vague, and sometimes unfair ways. Here's a short list of reasons you might want to learn how to use it less.

• To clarify your speech and writing by saying exactly what you mean, making it more accessible.


• To avoid the humancentrism that pervades our language, and conditions us to automatically think of nonhumans as "lesser" beings. This leads to countless nonhuman rights abuses.


• To validate and include therians, otherkin and others (such as me!) who, for spiritual, neurodivergent or other personal reasons, don't feel human. These people often feel invisible, so by being careful with your language you could really make someone's day!


• To add realism to fiction that involves nonhumans.

And here's how we do it, with a breakdown of when and why you may want to use (or avoid) each individual word!

( mentions: politics, prison abuses, migrant abuses, climate change, natural disasters, animal rights, general cruelty and injustice )