SlipperySlope wrote:

Glorfindel wrote:

>> there is a movement today to replace "pet owner"
>> with "companion animal guardian" as the preferred term.

> It's just more of your empty symbolism

It certainly is symbolic, because, as I said, until the
*legal* status of animals changes there will be no major
progress. However, language is very important. The words
we use both reflect and create our mental landscape, and
the idea that a human companion is a guardian rather than
an "owner" creates a very different picture in the mind of
the person who uses the term. I do hope the terminology
becomes more common; it will reflect a healthy shift in the
popular mind. Children have guardians, not owners, and if
humans see companion animals as analogous to their children,
as indeed they should, it may well improve animals' welfare.