"pet parent"

[Seán Fitzpatrick]

Something there is that does not like hierarchy, distinction, and
definition:  from same-sex "marriage", the celebration of the "undecided" or
"independent" voter, and "pet parents", to its inverse, the "fur child" or
"fur grandchild".  When the last was proposed in my household, it was
squashed like a knock-kneed cockroach (not the pet, the label).

Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?
I blame Global Warming.
http://www.logomachon.blogspot.com/



-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Lighter [mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 9:22 AM
Subject: "pet parent"

Back in my day, when people had *real* pets like the elephant bird and the
dire wolf, said pets had "masters" (and even "mistresses" if an elderly lady
was talking).  If you owned a pet, you were a "pet owner."

I've just heard "pet parents" on a cat food commercial, spoken as though it
were the most natural thing on earth. And it is, if you can believe nearly
one million raw Googlits.

Of course, I've heard of pets' "parents" and "mommies" and "daddies" for
decades, but this was the first ex. that did not seem in the least but
jocular.

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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