
Originally Posted by
cutponies
Yes the German for hermaphrodite is zwitter, and that word can also mean hybrid.
The German for homosexual is homosexuelle.
I think the problem was that your friend doesn't know what the English word hermaphrodite means.
The word homophobic now means "fear of homosexuals" It is used in Biology though to mean "fear of man" ie most animals are homophobic. The ones we consider pests, like mice, are homophilic.
The problem arises from early scholars mistranslating Latin . In English "Man" can mean Human, or an Adult Male. In Latin "Homo" means self, and they also applied it to describe themselves, self=us=human, rather than the formal Humanus. It was NEVER used to describe an adult male. That word was Andros, and a woman was Gynos. And strictly speaking, homosexual did not describe a person, but rather a relationship, since it means "same sex"
2 partners were either homosexual (same sex) or heterosexual (different sex). Only fairly recently has the term been used as an adjective for a specific person. A more recent mis-translation. Mammalia and Theria have both translated as "Mammal". No, since Humans, Whales,Seals, Mantees, Kangaroos and Bats are Mammalia, but not Theria.. Theria are four-footed mammals.
The definition of mammals by the way has nothing to do with mammaries (Mother's glands, or breasts) but the fact that we are the only creatures that can move our jaws sideways and forwards.. This is identified in fossils by the ear having three bones and the jaw one! Mammals are also the only creatures with a secondary palate (seperating the oral and sinus cavities), a knee bone, and a closed ribcage and among vertebrates, a penis. (insects also have a penis, ah that is the male ones do)
And you thought that all I could do was draw!
Talk about off-topic