I believe that change will occur for animals only as we change their status, and one thing we need to change is the way we talk about them. Every word we choose can contribute to upholding the existing paradigm that sees animals as ours to hurt, ours to eat, ours to kill, ours to use, as ours to do with whatever we please. OR we can choose words that reflect a new compassionate paragigm: one that sees animals as ours to share this planet with – not as subjects of ours but as co-habitants, as fellow Earthlings. We can shift that paradigm everytime we open our mouths to speak.  Join me on an etymological journey that demonstrates that how we talk about animals can liberate THEM and US from our violence against them.