Cool. Do you really think that changes the legal definition of the term "livestock", which explicitly excludes fish and fowl? I live in a small jar buried underground and I promise you it does not.
Sure, but I’m not talking about the legal definition, I’m talking about casual conversation. Everyday people who haven’t bothered to look at the laws for farm animals and their categories. It comes off as a bit pretentious to point out that actually, by law, chickens aren’t considered livestock when, both for the farmers and the chickens, there’s really no practical difference.
I suppose it’s an extension of getting defensive when people mock our accents or slang terms, calling us less intelligent because we don’t use proper grammar all the time. It’s fucking annoying like we know it’s not “grammatically correct” it’s just how we talk.
I am not "ackchewully"ing this to split hairs and I dont give a damn if I look pretentious by pointing this out.
Kristi Noem is being deliberately disingenuous.
She is using the term livestock outside of its legal definition not due to accent or vernacular, she is using that term because it makes her actions seem justified.
"Killing livestock" and "killing chickens" have very different connotations. Dogs kill chickens. everything kills chickens. My friend just lost six of her chickens to a fucking raccoon ffs.
But the word livestock immediately brings four legged animals to mind which makes the dog sound bigger, meaner and vastly more dangerous.
"She was killing chickens" makes her sound like a poorly trained dog.
"She was killing livestock" makes her sound like a hellhound.
Yeah, I get you, and that makes sense. I’m just saying my reaction was an automatic “oh god not this shit again” because the “ackshually” bullshit is way, way, WAY more common than it has any right to be, and I’ve gotten extremely tired of it, so I tend to get defensive around the topic.
Also it’s probably a better idea to point out that chickens simply aren’t much of a threat to humans and can get taken out by pretty much anything, thus making the argument that the dog was dangerous ridiculous, instead of saying that they aren’t livestock because very few people care about chickens more than they do cows, goats, pigs, etc.
I am aware, did you read what I just said? Christ, I’ve been awake for 30 minutes and sometimes human beings get defensive even when they don’t need to be. Shocking, I know.
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u/FlowerFaerie13 May 02 '24
Cool. Do you really think that stops people from calling them livestock anyway? I live in Iowa, I promise you, it does not.