'Minibeast'. I hate that word. Its a generic, catch-all that seems to include everything from micro-organisms to mice, depending on who uses it. I was supposed to use it when teaching. I think not. Why can't we at the least teach 'invertebrate' and 'vertebrate', and preferably some basics about the difference between an insect, a spider, a woodlouse, a snail. Clumping them all together is just stupid. We don't talk about 'maxibeasts' and clump fish, birds, mammals etc together. In fact some 'vegetarians' make a clear distinction between fish and other vertebrates.
When I hear documentary programs and textbooks using this word I shudder.
Some specific recent annoyances:
- The One Show, BBC1. 'Bug Week'. Yet they featured cockroaches, moths, ants.... Why do we have to take the American slang 'bug' to mean all arthropod invertebrates? Its as accurate as, for example, having a 'Butterfly Week' and featuring grasshoppers and beetles. 'Bug' is a taxonomic term meaning an insect with sucking mouthparts, from Order Hemiptera. Wouldn't hurt to use the word 'arthropod', or even 'invertebrate'. No harder to remember.
- Bang Goes the Theory, BBC1. Frying up some scorpions as a demonstration of how nutritious they are, fine. Calling them insects when you are a biologist is unforgivable.
I don't mean everyone has to learn the latin names for animals and understand all the details. But a bit of accuracy would be nice.
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