Sunday Rest: pongid. Word Not To Use Today.

A pongid is a great ape.

The term includes the gibbons and the great apes - basically, members of the family Pongidae.


Orangutans. Photo by Brett Jordan

There are three things wrong with this word.

First, it is obsolete (because this group now doesn't quite fit in with our current ideas about evolution).

Second, it sounds rather rude (I've not been close enough to a gorilla to know if it pongs more than, say, a goat, but it seems unkind to mention it, even if it's true.).

Third, it doesn't include humans (and if the actions of any animal pong to high heaven then, well, we can't in fairness exclude humans from the list).

Still, I suppose we humans done a lot of good stuff, too. 

And, also to be fair, the good people don't obviously stink any worse than the bad'uns, do they.

Sunday Rest: pongid. This word, rather wonderfully, comes from the Kongo mpongo.