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> BBC seems to know what these creatures are called Yes, they're called both "orcas" and "killer whales", with the latter being more common. And on that note,
by akavi 11y ago
> BBC seems to know what these creatures are called
Yes, they're called both "orcas" and "killer whales", with the latter being more common.
And on that note, do people really parse "killer whales" as "whales that kill (people?)". I'm pretty sure I don't; my brain treats the phrase as an opaque semantic unit meaning "those giant, black and white dolphins".
- aninhumer 11y agoI parse it as a unit, but it's not opaque. The word killer still carries a pretty violent connotation.
- dsp1234 11y agoQuick poll of those around me: Are orcas called 'killer whales' because the kill people? yes - 3 no - 2
- darklajid 11y agoSo, two things. First of all: Even if 'killer whale' is more common, I don't think that this kind of name is making a good case for a 'pity the social creatures trapped in a cage' article. I'd try to avoid it, if I wanted to make people more aware of the problems outlined in the article. But - obviously that's a cultural thing as well. I just checked the English Wikipedia and it happily lists Orcas as 'Killer Whales'. The German Wikipedia [1] however calls them 'Orcas' or 'Sword whales' (Schwertwale, translating word by word here) and explicitly says (my crappy translation, original to go and ask Google Translate about is below [2]) "The animals have been referred to as Killer Whales and Murder Whales by Whalers due to their seeminly brutal ways to hunt for prey". So maybe it's a bit of both? Bad publicity in general with a name like that and using a name that isn't common and generally ~obsolete~ in my home country? 1: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwertwal https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwertwal 2: "Die Namen Killerwal und Mörderwal wurden den Tieren von Walfängern gegeben und nehmen Bezug auf die oft brutal anmutenden Jagdmethoden dieser Raubwale."