JUST FOR KICKS: THE LANGUAGE LOVERS CORNER
Notes for language teachers and advanced students of the English language
by Oriel E. Villagarcia at TOOLS FOR TEACHERS, newtoolsforteachers@yahoo.com.ar
1. ON BEASTS, ANIMALS, CREATURES AND DICTIONARIES
If you have been following this section month by month, you will remember that in
the latest issues we explored the meanings of words such as DOG and COW
insofar as they differed from their reference to animals. Thus, if you say My dogs
are killing me, you don’t necessarily mean that your friendly pets are putting you
to death, nor if you say to someone Don’t have a cow, are you suggesting that your
interlocutor is not to have possession of the milk giving animal.
You will remember that we called this section THOSE FRIENDLY BEASTS. We
would have liked to proceed to the examination of words such as CAT, BITCH,
FOX, PIG, WEASEL, RAT, BIRD, SNAKE, CHICKEN, TURKEY etc., as they
apply to human beings or human actions, for example. Obviously we could no
longer use cover terms such as friendly beasts, since there is nothing friendly about
a rat, or a weasel, nor are they beasts.
Our search for all encompassing terms took us to several dictionaries in order to
ascertain the meanings of words such as BEAST, ANIMAL and CREATURE. The
journey proved to be fascinating as you will see if you keep on reading.
The consensus—at least in the dictionaries we consulted—seems to be that a
BEAST is a large and /or wild/dangerous animal (CUP, LDOCE, OUP,
abbreviations which stand for the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary,
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary and their latest editions), while the Macmillan dictionary (Macmillan
English Dictionary for Advanced Learners) leaves out the large feature and
includes dangerous and strange, and labels this meaning as mainly literary, while
LDOCE calls it written(i.e. used in written language), and CUP, formal. OUP on
its part labels it as old fashioned or formal.
The Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition defines BEAST as
any large, four-footed animal, sometimes, specif. a domesticated animal. Lastly,
the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition gives the following
definition: a four-footed mammal as distinguished from a human being, a lower
vertebrate, and invertebrate. Note in this definition the absence of size as a
distinctive feature. Neither of the two dictionaries labels this meaning as literary or
formal or old fashioned nor does the LDOCE American.
As you may have guessed, the word BEAST has other meanings apart from the one
that is the object of our study, and we will deal with them in another section (see
below).
On the basis of the definitions presented above it is clear that birds are not beasts.
Are they animals? What is an animal? Once again we turned to several
dictionaries. The first definition for ANIMAL in LDOCE reads: a living creature
such as a dog or cat, that is not an insect, plant, bird, fish or person. Its second
definition states that it is any living creature that is not a plant or person. This is of
course in direct contrast with the previous definition as it implies that birds,
insects and fish are animals. Macmillan, on the other hand, first of all offers a
definition from the field of biology classifying animals into vertebrates and
invertebrates. Next, it echoes the first definition offered by LDOCE, and then goes
on to offer an even broader definition: any living creature including humans, and
gives as an illustrative example of this meaning the sentence Man is the only animal
that uses language. CUP goes along with LDOCE and Macmillan and gives this
illustrative example: Humans, insects, reptiles, birds and mammals are all animals.
OUP gives definitions along the lines of the dictionaries already mentioned,
whereas four footedness and the exclusion of humans are the main features for the
definition of animals in the Webster’s New World Dictionary. Merriam Webster’s
highlights the feature that tell animals apart from plants in one definition, and sets
humans apart from animals in another definition.
How is a bird to be defined? If a bird is not an animal how is it to be defined? Or,
as we saw above, perhaps a bird is an animal. A bird, says LDOCE is a
CREATURE with wings and feathers that can usually fly. CUP offers a similar
definition, and so does OUP highlighting the fact that birds have two legs.
Macmillan, however, calls a bird an animal covered with feathers with two wings for
flying and a hard pointed moth called a beak or a bill. Birds build nests in which
female birds lay eggs.
Is a chicken a bird? Yes. All four dictionaries agree in this respect. Merriam
Webster’s introduces the word FOWL in defining a chicken: the common domestic
fowl (Gallus Gallus) esp. when young. The word BIRD covers small winged biped
creatures such as pigeons and sparrows and large ones as ostriches and eagles.
So far, so good. You will remember that some dictionaries excluded bird, fish and
insects from the animal category. However, if you look up fish in CUP you will find
the definition an animal which lives in water, and both LDOCE and Macmillan go
along with that classification, whereas OUP calls a fish a CREATURE. Webster’s
New World and Merriam Webster’s also include the word animal in their
definition of fish. When it comes to the word INSECT, LDOCE and OUP call it a
creature, unlike Macmillan and CUP which call it an animal. On the other hand, all
six dictionaries referred to so far consistently classify BEES and SPIDERS as
INSECTS rather than as animals.
What are we to make of the apparent contradictions in the definitions offered by
different dictionaries? Are there any serious errors? It is our contention that there
are none, if you remember that practically all of the dictionaries offer first
restricted definitions for the word ANIMAL, and a broader one immediately
afterwards. The same holds for a dictionary which deserves to be listed and
referred to, namely the COLLINS COBUILD ADVANCED LEARNER’S
DICTIONARY, FOURTH EDITION, a masterpiece in lexicography which when it
was first published in 1987 represented a step forward in making definitions user
friendly for the learner of English as a foreign/second language.
Roughly speaking, both Webster’s New World and Merriam Webster’s are in
agreement with the five dictionaries referred to above. It is important to
remember, nevertheless, that both Webster dictionaries are aimed at those whose
mother tongue is English, and that fact makes a world of difference.
Unlike the dictionaries meant for native speakers of English, the five dictionaries
mentioned in this article make use of a highly restricted defining vocabulary,
ranging from only 2000 word in LDOCE and CUP, about 2300 in Macmillan, 2500
in COBUILD to 3000 in OUP. Lexicographers for those dictionaries have striven
for clear, transparent definitions which in most cases can be understood by
students at an intermediate level (half way through FCE preparation). For
illustrative purposes emphasizing the contrast between dictionaries for native and
non native speakers of English, we reproduce the definitions of ANIMAL given by
Webster’s New World, and Merriam Webster’s respectively:
A. 1. any of a kingdom (Animalia) of eukaryotes generally characterized by a
multicellular body, the ability to move quickly and obtain food, specialized
sense organs, and sexual reproduction.
B. 1. any of a kingdom (Animalia) of living things including many-celled
organisms and often many of the single-celled ones (as protozoans) that
typically differ from plants in having cells without cellular walls, in
lacking chlorophyll and the capacity for photosynthesis, in requiring
more complex food materials (as proteins), in being organized to a greater
degree of complexity, and in having the capacity for spontaneous movement
and rapid motor responses to stimulation.
Different strokes for different folks. Still, one point remains to be elaborated upon.
How is it possible that a word may have different, even contradictory meanings?
The answer to this, we believe, lies in the nature of human beings, and language
reveals the complexity of man, its evolving nature, its contradictions, apparent or
real, and its innate creativity.
Language seems to have a life of its own. Words come into being, change their
meaning in the course of years, die out and sometimes are reborn. As a God given
gift, language would seem to serve every human purpose. We make love, make
war, we pray, we curse, and we create infinite realities through language.
It is the lexicographer job to record , define, explain and elucidate the meaning of
words through words, a mammoth job if you stop to think about it, particularly if
you consider the fact that very possibly not two human beings use the same words
in exactly the same way, or assign the same meanings to them. Yet, it is a miracle
that we do communicate because despite our different views of the world reflected
in language, there seems to be a common core that allows us to interact and against
all odds keep the human species alive.
To end on a lighter note, and in keeping with the spirit of JUST FOR KICKS, we
invite you now to proceed to the next section, where we do what have been doing in
previous issues, i.e. exploring what might perhaps be the unfamiliar meanings of
familiar words. As it was to be expected, we will be dealing with additional
meanings of ANIMAL, BEAST and CREATURE.
2. FURTHER MEANINGS OF FAMILIAR WORDS
ANIMAL
This word can also indicate




cruelty, violence: That man is an animal.
a particular characteristic that singles someone out: a political/social
party animal: Alfonsin has always been a party animal.
something that is different from what you have mentioned: Text
messaging is a very different animal from other kinds of writing.
(based on LDOCE).
a passionate sexual partner
BEAST
Other meanings:




mainly in journalism: a cruel or immoral person, especially one who
behaves in a violent or sexual way.
humorous; used for describing something with a particular quality:
The music business is an unpredictable beast (Macmillan,verbatim).
an unattractive woman (mainly American usage)
an attractive woman (mainly American usage)
CREATURE
Notice the following:

a beautiful/adorable/pathetic/pitiful/nocturnal/bizarre creature
As can be seen CREATURE can be preceded by positive or negative
adjectives.

a creature of habit: someone who likes to do the same thing at the same time
every day (Macmillan)

a creature of the government, police, mafia, etc. is someone controlled by
them.

the creature: whisky or another intoxicating liquor (Webster’s New World)
3. TEST YOUR ENGLISH
You will have noticed that compounding in written English is represented in three
different ways:
a) teapot (a single word)
b) pop-eyed (two words joined by a hyphen)
c) tear gas (two words)
In the following activity, match the numbers with the letters, and assign the
matching words to any of the three categories indicated above. Have fun!
1. trigger
2. riot
3. rip
4. pumper
5. knock
6. cross
7. punch
8. tracing
9. drag
a. act
b. paper
c. line
d. dresser
e. happy
f. roaring
g. queen
h. kneed
i. nickel
Answer to this section are given right before the end of this issue of JUST FOR
KICKS
4. ACTIVATING YOUR VERBAL INTELLIGENCE
Examine the following sentence and explain what it means:
I think that the Fish and and and Chips are too apart on this sign.
The first three participants who submit the correct answers will receive a gift.
Email newtoolsforteachers@yahoo.com.ar with your full name and phone number.
Enjoy!
5. ANSWER TO THE PREVIOUS ISSUE PROBLEM
You will remember that in the previous issue we said that the name of a well
known bookstore in Ciudad de Buenos could be translated into English by the
sentence THAT ONE SEES THAT ONE. Another clue to solve this puzzle was that
this bookstore sells books in English, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish as a foreign
language. The correct answer is, of course, SBS, since THAT ONE SEES THAT
ONE translates into ESE VE ESE. We are dealing with homophones, here!
We are glad to announce the name of the winner, VALERIA LARRALDE, from
Tigre, Buenos Aires. SBS is sending her a book as a present.
ANSWERS TO TEST YOUR ENGLISH
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
e
a
f
i
h
d
7. c
8. b
9. g
Your next step is to look up these combinations, find out which category they belong
to, i.e. whether (a), (b) or (c), and check their meaning if necessary. Enjoy!
Oriel E. Villagarcia holds and M.A. in Linguistics for English Language Teaching
from the University of Lancaster, and was on the Advisory Panel for the
Macmillan English Dictionary, First Edition. He is available for workshops on
language and methods throughout Argentina and abroad. Write to him at
newtoolsforteachers@yahoo.com.ar