Do you have a better word to differentiate people human and no so human?
By achilles2010
@achilles2010 (3051)
India
July 4, 2010 3:11pm CST
Qualities and emotions such as love; kindness; pity; charity; compassion; sympathy; patience and tolerance do not come naturally to us humans. While the emotions such as anger; egoism; jealousy; and hatred comes naturally to some of us.
People whose conducts are laced with positive qualities we call them humankind. The word human for those with predominant negative qualities is a misnomer.
I think to distinguish we must have a different word for both. Earlier we used the word humankind for those with kindly and humane qualities. In those, in whom the negative qualities were predominant, we called them mankind. However, the word mankind is now obsolete because 'mankind' seemed to slight the women.
Do you have a better word to differentiate people with human and subhuman qualities and emotions so that we can tell them apart?
1 response
@allknowing (136081)
• India
5 Jul 10
It is not humakind but 'humane'. For more on 'humane' you can visit http://www.thefreedictionary.com/humane and the opposite of this is 'inhumane'
@achilles2010 (3051)
• India
5 Jul 10
The word Humankind and mankind are nouns and the word humane is adjective. I have asked what word would you use instead of mankind since the word mankind seem to slight the women. I need a word, which is noun and not an adjective.
@allknowing (136081)
• India
5 Jul 10
I searched for the definition as given by you for 'humankind' but could not find it anywhere. Where did you collect this information from? Humankind does not speak of any good or bad qualities of a humanbeing but being humane defines it.
@achilles2010 (3051)
• India
6 Jul 10
The word humane itself is derived from the word human. Actually, at sometime, somewhere, someone thought that there ought to be two words to differentiate men and better men. They began calling better men eu-men, meaning better men, which colloquially changed to human.
The prefix eu is still in use in words such a eugenics, euthanasia, euro and Europe. The word Europe too sounds as Eu-apes, or better apes. May be the word Asians too was at some time was Apians but not to slight the inhabitants living there they changed it to simply Asians.
May be I am stretching my imagination too far and hope not all this is true, but who can stop the mind from thinking.
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