[Eclipse]

<a href="http://www.local6.com/news/9923915/detail.html" target="_blank">http://www.local6.com/news/9923915/detail.html</a>

 

[GhostUser]

There's something about this that makes me feel sick to my stomach.

 

[Ayrlin]

Where is a brick wall?<br><br>
I need to bang my head

 

[Amy SF]

<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>Ayrlin</strong> <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br>
Where is a brick wall?<br><br>
I need to bang my head</div>
</div>
<br><br><br><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/wall.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=":wall:"> <<-- one for you<br><br><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/wall.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=":wall:"> <<--- and one for me

 

[Ayrlin]

<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>Amy SF</strong> <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/wall.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=":wall:"> <<-- one for you<br><br><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/wall.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=":wall:"> <<--- and one for me</div>
</div>
<br>
Thank you I needed that , that BURNS me up I have so many cats in need of a loving home, all thier shots, already fixed and veted, trained ready to go and people are buying cats for 4 k???

 

[Scythe]

People buy what they want to own, not what other people want them to buy.

 

[Vegania]

Individual cats are not a "what" ,Scythe,but a "who" as individual cats have a gender!

 

[~Wonder]

The people buying these cats are most likely allergic to cats. It's not like they'd get a shelter cat if these hypoallergenic cats did not exist. And it's not like selective breeding is something new or evil. Without it you wouldn't have modern cats, broccoli, or even corn on the cob.<br><br>
~Wonder <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/biker.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=":ymca:">

 

[Astarte]

Trees and flowers have gender too... gender alone doesn't make something into a who. That said, I'd tend to think of cats more of a "who" as they have individual awareness and personalities.<br><br><br><br>
Though really, I doubt this will decrease the number of cats adopted from shelters. The people who are spending $4000 for a cat are pretty likely to have allergies that would prevent them from adopting a normal cat. Plus the cost is prohibitive for the vast majority of people.

 

[Thalia]

<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>Scythe</strong> <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br>
People buy what they want to own, not what other people want them to buy.</div>
</div>
<br>
Yes, that is often the case. I'm not sure what else you are trying to say here.

 

[rincaro]

If they weren't so cost prohibitive I actually might consider it. I love cats but I am deathly allergic. So there's nothing that a person like me could do to help a shelter cat. Shoot, I can't even eat lunch next to someone who has certain types of cats.

 

[Vegania]

Trees and Flowers do not have a "gender"! Trees and flowers have a stem or a bark and ROOTS,where's the "gender" in this--every Tree and Flower has the same!

 

[~Wonder]

<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>Vegania</strong> <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br>
Trees and Flowers do not have a "gender"! Trees and flowers have a stem or a bark and ROOTS,where's the "gender" in this--every Tree and Flower has the same!</div>
</div>
<br>
There are trees that have a gender. Eggplants also have genders.<br><br>
Here's an article on plant sexuality:<br><br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_sexuality" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_sexuality</a><br><br>
~Wonder <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/biker.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=":ymca:">

 

[That Alpaca Guy]

Despite being allergic, I don't think the kind of person who would whimsically pay 4000 for a cat would adopt from a shelter anyway.<br><br><br><br><div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>Scythe</strong> <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br>
People buy what they want to own, not what other people want them to buy.</div>
</div>
<br><br><br>
Wouldn't it be more correct to say that people buy what they are told they want to own?

 

[honeyfugle]

my friend is allergic to cats, and still manages manages to look after 7 of them... (the most cats she's had at one time is 14 because 3 of her females gave birth around the same time)<br><br><br><br>
also, i'm not sure i like the word "own" when it comes to looking after an animal. it reduces whoever it is (cat, dog, worm...) to a mere object.

 

[Scythe]

<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Individual cats are not a "what" ,Scythe,but a "who" as individual cats have a gender!</div>
</div>
<br><br><br>
I care why?<br><br><br><br><div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Wouldn't it be more correct to say that people buy what they are told they want to own?</div>
</div>
<br><br><br>
No. Even <i>if</i> they want it because of outside influence, they still want it (although sometimes they might change their mind when they get it and it breaks).

 

[Gita]

<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>Vegania</strong> <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br>
Trees and Flowers do not have a "gender"! Trees and flowers have a stem or a bark and ROOTS,where's the "gender" in this--every Tree and Flower has the same!</div>
</div>
<br><br><br>
I beg to differ. Trees and flowers do have genders. Their are female trees, and male trees. How do you think fruit is cross polinated? All trees have flowers and all trees have fruits-- though some are not obvious, not edible, not sweet-smelling and so on. A pine cone is a fruit. Anything that is the ovary of a plant is a fruit, like a nut, a fleshy fruit, a "helecopter" seed like a maple seed, an acorn-- All plants, have both fruits and flowers. Grasses and grains have seeds, which would be a fruit without the nourishing shell. Flowers are where the pollin is kept (flowers are male). Sometimes they are pretty and smell nice but they are not really meant for humans, but for the insects and birds that cross polinate them. When you go to the nursery to choose a tree to put in your yard, you choose it by gender. If you get apple trees, you usually buy them in pairs in order to get apples, if there are no apples in the area. Some plants like slip skin grapes (concords) have both sexes (hermaphrodites, which would be called cross-polinating plants) but no plant has "no sex"-- on average female plants generally bear the fruit.<br><br><br><br>
Now-- if you want to get technical, your argument actually refers to the fact that the <span style="text-decoration:underline;">English language</span> specifically does not acknowledge gender in all but a few words. Ships and many vehicles are traditionally called "her". Many languages Like Russian apply gender to all, or most, words. In other words, if I said in Russian, "go get that pencil," someone could reply, "I've got "him," or "her." Each word in some languages is called either "him," "her," or "it." The gender given the word does not refer to a biological "sex" but often an abstract concept. This is true of most languages. English has less gender rules because it began as a trading Creole, so it has less grammer rules than most.<br><br><br><br>
In the case of an animal, when using the English Language, if a speaker does not know the gender of an animal they can call it "it." for example "It broke in through the screen door." (when refering to an unknown Racoon). However, if the racoon is named Daisy, and it is your mother's pet, you can say "She broke in though the screen door." In the same way that if your horse is a mare, you call her "she," but if it is a horse you dont know, you call her "it."<br><br><br><br>
Plants are usually called "it" whether you know the gender or not. It is simply a convention of habit, not a manner of gramatical corectness. In the same way that insects and fish are generally not given a gender-- it is expedient, not necessarily correct.

 

[Marie]

<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>honeyfugle</strong> <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br>
my friend is allergic to cats, and still manages manages to look after 7 of them... (the most cats she's had at one time is 14 because 3 of her females gave birth around the same time)<br><br><br><br>
also, i'm not sure i like the word "own" when it comes to looking after an animal. it reduces whoever it is (cat, dog, worm...) to a mere object.</div>
</div>
<br><br><br>
Some people have mild allergies.. other people aren't so lucky.

 

[rincaro]

Count me among the unlucky. Casual exposure to someone with the wrong kind of cat will send me into horrible sneezing fits, my eyes will water and itch, and if I come in contact with contaminated clothing or blankets I will start to get hives. If I actually touch a cat? Forget about it. I'm lucky if I can breathe at all. And my allergies have seemed to worsen as I've aged.<br><br><br><br>
I tried allergy shots when I was younger. They put the smallest measurable amount of cat serum or whatever in my shot. I got a "hive" the size of a softball. It lasted for over a week.<br><br><br><br>
So nope, I couldn't "manage" to look after any cats.

 

[soilman]

"Flowers are where the pollin is kept (flowers are male)."<br><br><br><br>
NO! Some flowers are male, some are female, some are heterosexual.<br><br><br><br>
Same with plants. Some plants are all male, some are all female, some are heterosexual.<br><br><br><br>
Also, some plants have separate male and female flowers (corn is an example); others have male parts and female parts in the same flower.<br><br><br><br>
Most plants are heterosexual and have heterosexual flowers. But the plants that are different are many.<br><br><br><br>
This is how things work with angiosperms: flowering plants. Not all plants have flowers.<br><br><br><br>
What we commonly call fruit are the ovaries of angiosperms, specifically trees. The fruits of low-growing angiosperms are usually called vegetables in general parlance, and commerce, and fruits in biology-talk. Thus a pepper is a vegetable in commere and general parlance, and a fruit, biologically-speaking.<br><br><br><br>
I should add that some heterosexual plants generally have sex only with themselves, and other heterosexual plants refuse to to have sex with anyone but anotherplant. The first category is mostly confined to husbanded plants. Tomatoes are an example. Each flower generally fertilizes itself. Only occasionally does pollen from a genetically different tomato plant, get to the ovum of a particular plant. This is because humans have bred them for so long, and helped them grow -- found suitable environments, changed their environement -- that a variety of types suited to different environments, expressing the whole range of characteristics that exists but is latent in their population, is no longer extremely important to them.