Extraordinarily Colorful Words to Describe Your Habits
Aniverbs are words taken from animal names that are used to describe human behavior. Do you pig your dinner, wolf down your breakfast, horse around, or even try to weasel your way out of difficult situations?
Aniverbs are words that refer to animals but describe certain aspects of human behaviour. For example “to ape” somebody means to copy them in the same way that an ape will copy an action. This is where the expression “monkey see, monkey do,” came from.
(All artwork is from a collection licensed for the author’s use.)
To badger someone into doing something is to keep on at them in an annoying way, until they do what you ask them to do. For example, I badger my children until them do their homework.
If I crow about my recent success, I would be gloating, or bragging.
Dogging someone has a modern somewhat unsavoury meaning but the conventional English meaning is to follow someone around.
Horsing around is playing about in a noisy, prankish kind of way.
If you eat quickly as though you were starving, or even eat too much, you could be accused of pigging out.
To rat on someone is to give information away that you should keep secret. For example, if a friend told you that they had committed a crime and you reported it to the police, you could be accused of ratting on a friend.
If you try to weasel your way out of something, you employ evasive tactics. For example, if someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, you might be evasive so that you didn’t need to answer it.
To wolf down food is to eat it very quickly without even chewing it properly and this one comes from the behaviour of the wolf in wild. These wild dogs quickly swallow their food before any other predator can take it from them.
What kind of animal are you?
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User Comments
Louie Jerome
On February 5, 2009 at 8:40 am
Messed up pictures are awaiting a fix!!!!
LBA
On February 5, 2009 at 8:52 am
Great article
Fegger
On February 5, 2009 at 8:55 am
I’m un-bear-able with shark and roach tendencies. Very clever, Louie.
Betty Carew
On February 5, 2009 at 9:03 am
Great article Louie i can qualify for several of these lol
S Air
On February 5, 2009 at 10:25 am
Good atricle, some good examples there!
Debra.
On February 5, 2009 at 10:31 am
How often have we used these words? Funny how the names of animals are used as metaphors for many different things. Great piece.
Tommy Fassbender
On February 5, 2009 at 10:38 am
Great article! I think I’m a weasel.
CHAN LEE PENG
On February 5, 2009 at 11:06 am
Great article!
Glynis Smy
On February 5, 2009 at 11:51 am
I am a monkey (cheeky). Great fun topic.
cardy
On February 5, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Fab article loved it.
hfj
On February 5, 2009 at 12:46 pm
I’ve been called a dog loving jackass, a dirty rat, and a pig eating weasel. Other than that, i have nothing to crow about. Good article Louie.
Bren Parks
On February 5, 2009 at 2:19 pm
lol…I would love it if I could be a wolfie! They take care of one another in the pack.
Darlene McFarlane
On February 5, 2009 at 2:46 pm
This was fun to read. Don’t forget the snake in the grass, the loan shark, amd quiet as a mouse.
Great article as usual, Louie.
CA Johnson
On February 5, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Great article. I knew some of these, but I didn’t know the rest.
R.B. Parsley
On February 5, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Louie,
Great article. I believe we all have used these at one time or another, and a whole lot more! Keep up the great work Louie!!!
Randy
Ruby Hawk
On February 5, 2009 at 8:46 pm
That’s a cute article.You left out “sly as a fox.”
and, “nerveous as a cat in a roomfull of rockers.” I love these old folk sayings.I grew up with them.
clay Hurtubise
On February 5, 2009 at 9:18 pm
I would have finished reading it, but my dog ate my PC
Thanks,
Clay
Liane Schmidt
On February 6, 2009 at 1:35 am
Such a cute, playful article!
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
Inna Tysoe
On February 6, 2009 at 2:04 am
Good article. Reminded me a bit of that Dr. Doolittle scene when he talks about words like this.
Inna
Maria Blazz
On February 6, 2009 at 3:29 am
Good article to improve my English vocabulary! I’ve never heard some of these expressions.
gianne
On February 6, 2009 at 1:00 pm
You know, as much as I write, I don’t touch aniverbs. They can add a bit of “clever” to a story. Thanks for the well written, and visually amusing article.
George W Whitehead
On February 6, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Moo, moo, baa, baa, woof, woof, great article.
Anne Lyken Garner
On February 7, 2009 at 2:56 am
I’m a horse.
C Jordan
On February 7, 2009 at 10:23 am
Today I’m definitely a sloth.
.
Good stuff.
Mr Ghaz
On February 8, 2009 at 8:52 am
Excellent work! Very attractive article! must see. Thanks for sharing. Well done!
maranatha
On February 12, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I must be an old texas crow, always flying off the handle…
Judy Sheldon
On February 14, 2009 at 10:48 am
Great article. This was a fun read. Thanks Louie. If animals could talk what would they say about our behavior?
Ori Sonata
On February 27, 2009 at 8:59 am
Great article. I never know most of these animalistic verbs before. Thank you for the information.
Jeffrey B. Merrow
On March 5, 2009 at 9:57 pm
clever, clever and invigorating!
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