Ssstop the Snake Slander, Merriam-Webster! PETA Wants Dictionary to Remove Definition of ‘Snake’ as An Insult to Humans

Ssstop the Snake Slander, Merriam-Webster! PETA Wants Dictionary to Remove Definition of ‘Snake’ as An Insult to Humans

In honor of the upcoming Year of the Snake, Hong Kong–based PETA sent a letter to Merriam-Webster editor-at-large Peter Sokolowski today urging him to do snakes a solid and remove the dictionary’s current definition of the word as “a worthless or treacherous fellow.” PETA points out that not only does the outdated comparison denigrate these remarkable reptiles, but it also wrongly (and negatively) connects them with humans when they are in fact their own complex beings who smell with their tongues, have strong homing instincts, prefer to associate with their relatives, and have been on this Earth for more than 100 million years.

“Merriam-Webster understands better than anyone that words matter and that language can influence hearts and minds and contribute to a harmful human-supremacist mentality,” says PETA Senior Vice President Jason Baker. “PETA is calling on Peter Sokolowski to banish this shameful mischaracterization of snakes and prioritize respectful language toward other species in future editions.”

PETA’s letter to Peter Sokolowski is available upon request.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAAsia.com or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.