Recently, I was pondering whether I could use "being" with other species(e.g., Canine being or Feline being) as we use with Human. It might sounds odd but that's not my concern. I want to know if I can use or not and if not, then why not!?
Why do we use "being" with us?
If we use "being" to show that Human is superior in many way such as emotionally, intellectually etc then I might argue that other animals also show their emotions and intelligence even to an extent we get flabbergasted.
So, being is only for Human or all living beings?:D
Opinions, information, jokes are appreciated from all the italki beings:D
Have a great day!:)
John, GyulaSzabó, Nada, Drasvi, Miriam, Phil and Anne
Thank you so so much all of you for participating in this thread of being a human being::)
I definitely knew some interesting info after reading your comments and convo even though the reason and origin of using being with human is quite vague(right?). It would be great if we could go back in time and see who was that Human who attached being with Human and turned it into human being:D
The word being is defined as the state of existing, right? So, if a human being dies, what would you call them? A human non-being?!
He was a good human-non being. RIP. hehe
We have both "being" and "creature" in Russian and I wouldn't say that they describe something very different. I don't hear "self" or "itntellect" in it (even though I don't see why a cat can't have a sense of "self". Animals recognize themselves in a mirror by the way)
We do not say being or beings for animals because being describes a state of "self" so we cannot say a lion being for example. Because we cannot describe the state of "self" for a lion nor any other non human species even a close relative like an ape or chimpanzee.
However we can say a being from outer space to describe the idea of a sentient intellectual species. We imagine as having a sense of "self" like us.
If you were a horse you could possibly call another horse a horse being, because all living things must have a sense of "self" of existing. Don't they?.
