A Brief Note
On the Conventions of Animal Names
The manner in which animals refer to themselves and each other is much the same as with people, but it does differ in a few ways. First, while every animal has a unique name, it is strictly used between family members and in formal documents. In everyday life, animals refer to each other informally by what they are. For example, every squirrel is simply called ‘Squirrel’, every Toad simply called ‘Toad’, and so forth. Now, you may think that would get confusing, but each animal also has a title that can indicate which particular animal the speaker is referring to. For example, ‘Disagreeable Squirrel of the Knoll’ and ‘Boisterous Toad of Toad Hall’. For the sake of consistency, we will observe these conventions, referring to all animals informally, as that is how they refer to one another.
