$Animalogy \ The Animals in Our Everyday Words & Phrases$

Animalogy \ The Animals in Our Everyday Words & Phrases

By Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, Author

What's Animalogy \ The Animals in Our Everyday Words & Phrases about?

ANIMALOGY is a podcast about language, the animal-related words and phrases we use every day, and how they reflect and affect our relationship with animals. Hosted by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, bestselling author, long-time podcaster, and self-proclaimed zoolinguaphile, Animalogy will change the way you talk -- and think -- about animals. For show notes and more, visit animalogypodcast.com.

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Animalogy \ The Animals in Our Everyday Words & Phrases episodes:

03.31.2020
Vaccines Are Full of Bull? Animal-Related Words for Diseases and Cures
In earlier episodes of Animalogy Podcast, we talked about parts of our anatomy named for their resemblance to animals, such as muscle and coccyx. In today's episode, we look at the animal-related words we have for diseases and cures, including...
01.18.2018
Don’t Get Fleeced or Pull the Wool Over Your Eyes: Expressions from the Hair of Sheep
Have you ever been "fleeced"? Have you ever "gone in search of the golden fleece" or "pulled the wool over someone's eyes"? Are your opinions "dyed in the wool"? In today's episode of Animalogy, I discuss the animal origins of...
09.23.2017
Berserk for Bears: Words from our Ursine Animals
We have many words built from the English word for "bear," the Latin word for "bear," and the Greek word for "bear," and we have many expressions and phrases built from the same ursine animal. Of course there are also...
09.13.2017
Drawing Listeners Like Flies (Hopefully): Words from our Winged Insects
The word “fly” is a very old word, and of course we have many expressions and nouns that contain the word "fly" itself, but do you know that there are dozens of familiar words whose origins reside in flies and...
07.07.2017
What's in a Name? The Soul of an Animal
In a pivotal scene in David Lynch’s film, The Elephant Man, the main character turns on those who are cruelly taunting him and declares “I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! I...am...a...
06.25.2017
Geographical Place Names with Animal Origins
If I asked you to name some cities and countries named after animals, how many could you come up with? You might think of obvious ones, such as Buffalo NY; Beaver, UY; White Horse, NJ; or Eagle River in Ontario; or Weston-Under-Lizard...
05.28.2017
Piggyback: Animal Words with No Animal Origins
"Piggyback" has nothing to do with pigs! In fact, there are many seemingly animal-related words and phrases in the English language that have nothing to do with animals at all! In today’s episode, I offer up the backstory to words such...
05.21.2017
Animals in Our Bones: Anatomy Terms from Animals
By now you would have listened to the Animalogy episodes about the words muscle, coccyx, and tragus — all parts of our body. All words from animals. Today, we have an entire episode on a number of other terms for parts of our anatomy...
05.07.2017
Vegetarians Eat Meat: The History and Future of the Word
The word meat goes back at least as far as 731 AD, but it didn't mean then what it does today. Its meaning was much broader. Understanding the history and evolution of the word can go a long way in normalizing...
04.16.2017
Animal Characteristics in Word Histories: Who They Are in What We Say
Whereas the word veal in English simply means “flesh of a calf” and pork in English means “flesh of a pig used as food,” hidden in many of the Anglo-Saxon/Old English and Proto-Indo-European words for the living animals are clues...
04.09.2017
Old English Pigs and Old French Pork: The Linguistic Cleaving of Animals
Roughly 10,000 new words entered the English language during the Norman occupation and assimilation, particularly those having to do with the world of the ruling class. The effects of the linguistic class division are most apparent in the culinary realm,...
04.02.2017
No Critters Harmed: Colors Inspired by Living Animals
In a previous episode on words for different colors, an episode called Ingrained: A Crush of Color, I talked about the names we have for colors based on animals who have been crushed to create the color or from whom...
03.18.2017
Ingrained: A Crush of Color
When something is ingrained, it’s "deeply rooted" or "firmly fixed," pertaining to qualities, dispositions, or habits. This figurative use of the word ingrain came into English in the 1850s, but its original sense is from the 1300s and had to do with the dried and...
03.10.2017
Toady: Lick My Boots and Curry My Favor
A toady is a person who flatters and ingratiates himself or herself to another person in a servile way; a toady is a sycophant, a flatterer, especially someone who does distasteful or unprincipled things in order to gain favor. Celebrities...
03.03.2017
Who Owns the Word "Milk"?
For years, the dairy industry has been trying to make it illegal for nondairy milk companies to use the word “milk," asserting that the word “milk” should be used to refer only to the lacteal secretions of cows. Today, I'm...
02.24.2017
Animals in the Alphabet
Animalogy is all about the animal-related words and phrases in the English language, but did you know there are animals in the very letters that make up our words? If I haven’t blown your mind yet, check out this episode to...
02.18.2017
Tragedy: A Goat's Lament
Tragedy n. "goat song" Named for the dramatic plays of the ancient Greeks, characterized by a protagonist whose flaw or error in judgment leads to a series of events that cause his downfall. How it relates to goats, you'll have to listen. You'll...
02.11.2017
The Semantics of Meat (with Paul Shapiro)
Semantics play a significant role in shaping public perception about animals and animal welfare. The meat, dairy, and egg industries go to great lengths to remove harsh terminology and replace it with euphemisms that conceal the truth and sanitize violence....
02.04.2017
Don't Get My Goat - I'm Not Kidding
In this episode of Animalogy, we explore the goat-related words and expressions in our everyday language — particularly those formed by the Old English words goat, buck, and kid (such as butcher, "kidding around," and goatee). You’re going to love it....
01.28.2017
Falconry: Fed Up and Looking Haggard
The practice of hunting wild birds with trained birds -- for fun is called falconry. Though it came into its own almost 1,000 years ago in England after the Norman invasion, it continues to have a stronghold in our contemporary...
01.22.2017
Muscle: Flex Your Mouse
Roll up your sleeve past your bicep, flex your arm at the elbow, and squeeze — or contract — your bicep muscle. Take a look at it. Now, relax it -- keep looking at it, and contract again. Squeeze. And...
01.17.2017
Eating Crow? Try Eating Humble Pie, Instead.
If you’ve made a serious faux pas and need to acknowledge it with humility, you might be said to be “eating crow” or “eating humble pie,” both phrases of which involve animals — or do they? We’ll uncover the dirty...
01.11.2017
Zodiac: A Circle of Animals — Literally
Of the 88 constellations officially recognized by Western astronomy, 40 of them are named after animals — 43 if you count the mythical animals. We’re going to talk about 12 of them today — the 12 that make up the...
01.08.2017
History of English in 10 (ish) Minutes
Throughout the episodes of Animalogy, I’ll be talking about the Proto-Indo-European reconstructed language, the related Indo-European languages, Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), the Norman invasion, Latin, Greek, and different types of sound changes that have occurred in English. In order to...
12.16.2016
Coccyx: Please Don't Sit on the Cuckoo
Coccyx is a small triangle-shaped bone at the base of the spinal column in humans and other apes, such as gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees. Representing a vestigial tail and most commonly called the tailbone, coccyx was the name given...
12.14.2016
Inauguration: On a Wing and a Prayer
This inaugural episode of Animalogy, a podcast about the animal-related words and expressions we use every day, takes us back to the politics of ancient Rome to reveal the birds behind the words inaugural, inauguration, auspicious, auspices, and more. Subscribe,...
12.13.2016
What is Animalogy?
Drawing upon etymology, history, linguistics, literature, anthropology, sociology, and psychology, Animalogy unpacks the idioms, euphemisms, metaphors, semantics, doublespeak, and other elements of our everyday language to reveal the meanings and implications of our animal-related words and expressions. Support this podcast...

What's Animalogy \ The Animals in Our Everyday Words & Phrases about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Animalogy \ The Animals in Our Everyday Words & Phrases episodes:

Vaccines Are Full of Bull? Animal-Related Words for Diseases and Cures

Don’t Get Fleeced or Pull the Wool Over Your Eyes: Expressions from the Hair of Sheep

Berserk for Bears: Words from our Ursine Animals

Drawing Listeners Like Flies (Hopefully): Words from our Winged Insects

What's in a Name? The Soul of an Animal

Geographical Place Names with Animal Origins

Piggyback: Animal Words with No Animal Origins

Animals in Our Bones: Anatomy Terms from Animals

Vegetarians Eat Meat: The History and Future of the Word

Animal Characteristics in Word Histories: Who They Are in What We Say

Old English Pigs and Old French Pork: The Linguistic Cleaving of Animals

No Critters Harmed: Colors Inspired by Living Animals

Ingrained: A Crush of Color

Toady: Lick My Boots and Curry My Favor

Who Owns the Word "Milk"?

Animals in the Alphabet

Tragedy: A Goat's Lament

The Semantics of Meat (with Paul Shapiro)

Don't Get My Goat - I'm Not Kidding

Falconry: Fed Up and Looking Haggard

Muscle: Flex Your Mouse

Eating Crow? Try Eating Humble Pie, Instead.

Zodiac: A Circle of Animals — Literally

History of English in 10 (ish) Minutes

Coccyx: Please Don't Sit on the Cuckoo

Inauguration: On a Wing and a Prayer

What is Animalogy?