beast

I suppose it's about time for a word I don't like. "Beast" is a word seldom used positively; it nearly always bears the taint of presumed superiority, whether intentional or subconscious. The explicitly derogatory use of the word in reference to a person is the more obviously cruel; not a common insult, the word is usually pointedly chosen for a person one genuinely feels is beneath them, whether hygienically or otherwise. There are always ugly feelings behind it. Then there is the more traditional use of the word, that of reference to members (besides man) of the animal kingdom. The word has a connotation of filth and ignorance behind it that ill-befits any naturally-behaving creature; its bluntness - in meaning and sound - strikes me as an unfair dismissal. To, in a single word, group the whole of the animal population together is to unnecessarily stroke mankind's ego by emphasizing our superiority in those standards of success we ourselves have devised. This offense is committed more in the Bible than anywhere else, perhaps.