A few weeks ago we had a ‘consultant’ guest at Seven Cycles. It turned out that he was an expert in a skill I really dislike. Interestingly, it is a behavior for which I cannot find a properly descriptive word. The behavior is best described as when someone speaks in a way that de-anthropomorphizes people. Examples are words that dehumanize, like: ‘headcount’, ‘man-hours’, and ‘worker’.
When I hear these types of expressions—from some consultants, for example—it really bothers me. Understandably, most people don’t think about this type of language and how it subtly affects behavior and relationships. Most people just don’t care.
Headcount?
Seriously? “Headcount”? Is that really a word that anyone would want
to use? Are we really counting
heads? The rest of the person isn’t
relevant? In fact, I believe the
expression was originally used to talk about cattle—as in, ‘a head of
cattle’. Well, if people are like
cattle, then let’s definitely do a head count.
Fortunately at Seven Cycles we have an amazing group of people that very rarely use this kind of language; I can’t remember that last time someone did. In fact, one of the Seveneers mentioned just the other day—again—how she had never worked anywhere where she truly liked everyone with whom she worked, until working at Seven. That’s beyond cool. And it’s due, in part, to the way in which we speak with each other.
Anyway, what does anthropomorphize mean? Anthropomorphize: the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human creatures, objects, or abstract concepts.
I try to use words that promote the anthropomorphism of people—words that reinforce people as individuals that have intrinsic value rather than objects, tools, or numbers.
Pick a Word
Some of the words I’ve used that kind of express this “reversopomophism”, but only in specific cases are:
- Zoomophism: proscribing animal features to people
- Reductionism: a philosophical position that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts
- Medusism: turning a person into an inanimate object. This is one of "Seven’s made up words of the week”
- Reversopomorphism: the opposite of anthropomorphism. Yet another of “Seven’s made up words of the week”
I actually like ‘reversopomorshism’ but there are two issues with this: 1) it’s made up so no one knows what it means; and 2) it’s funny and ‘headcount’ isn’t really very well suited to ‘funny’. Regardless, none of these words express the dehumanizing element of a word like ‘headcount’. And of course, the right word might be ‘dehumanize’; unfortunately, that word feels too simplistic and doesn’t account for the thoughtless nature of the expressions—they are generally not made to be purposefully dehumanizing.
Man-Hours?
And what about, “Man-hours”? Who came up with that gem? This is a doubly damaging expression because over a third of the people with whom I work are women. What’s the word for when a woman is referred to as a man? I guess I don’t know the English language very well…
Alright, that’s enough ranting for one night. I have to get back to my corral.
What expression would you use to describe reversopomorphism?
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