Writing – animals in symbolism

Browsing through my old (1981) edition of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, trying to find the root of the phrase, ‘Fed up’, I came across this interesting item.

I won’t quote all of it, but you can get the drift, and the list should bring to mind relevant idioms and descriptions:

Creature          symbolizes

Ant                  frugality and prevision

Ape                  uncleanness, malice, lust and cunning

Ass                  stupidity

Bantam cock    pluckiness, priggishness

Bat                   blindness

Bear                 ill-temper, uncouthness

Bulldog            pertinacity

Cock                vigilance, overbearing insolence

Crocodile         hypocrisy

Dog                  fidelity, dirty habits

Fox                  cunning, artifice

Goat                 lasciviousness

Goose              conceit, folly

Gull                 gullibility

Hen                  maternal care

Lamb               innocence, sacrifice

Leopard           sin

Lion                 noble courage

Owl                  wisdom

Ox                   patience, strength, pride

Pig                   obstinacy, dirtiness, gluttony

Rabbit              fecundity

Raven              ill-luck

Sheep               silliness, timidity

Worm              cringing…

Whether it’s the realisation that ‘the law is an ass’, or acknowledging the pluckiness of bantamweight boxers, or noticing that person acting like a bear with a sore head, while shedding crocodile tears; or thinking of the faithful friend, a dog, or the wily fox, or mother hen, or gulling people out of money, or leopards being unable to change their spots, or rabbits breeding like rabbits, or those ravens of the Tower of London, this symbolism has crept into our everyday language.

Oh, and ‘fed up’ wasn’t in there. It is in the OED and stems from having enough, fed up to the back teeth, a surfeit, can’t eat another morsel or rather, no more, thanks, I’m bored. (I can take a hint, and will close now…)

Writing – characters’ names

I’ve touched on this subject before – notably, when writing fiction, try not to use names beginning with the same letter in order to avoid confusion for the reader.

There are countless names to choose from, yet many are rarely used, writers opting for the most common. Naturally, you also want to find the name that seems to fit your character, his traits, her age, behaviour and history, even.

My latest work in progress takes place in China. Now, that country presents a challenge regarding names! With over a billion people, you’d think there’d be plenty of surnames to choose from; but this isn’t so. Of the 12,000 surnames that once existed in China, there remain now just about 4,000, though moves have been made to correct this state of affairs, by some adoption of western names. In comparison: recent surveys say that there are about 150,000 different surnames in the US.

Nearly a third of the population of China shares just five family names. Apparently, about 90% use just 100 surnames, with 90 million sharing the name Li. The most common surnames in China, in order, are Wang, Li, Zhang, Chen, Yang, Huang, Zhao, Wu and Zhou.

The most common surnames in UK are, in order: Smith, Jones, Williams, Taylor, Brown, Davies, Evans, Wilson, Thomas, Johnson, Roberts and Robinson – gleaned from a list of 300 ‘most common’.

So, with thousands of people in China sharing the same full name, there can be frequent cases of wrong identity.

Often, I find it useful to note the name’s meaning; this can help link the name to the character.  For example, the Chinese secretary of my villain is Zoo Peizhi – the surname is Zoo (that is it’s the first name used); Peizhi is the given name and it’s meaning is ‘respectful’, so it seemed to fit!

Good luck in finding that right name for your character.

See also my blogs

http://nik-writealot.blogspot.com.es/2015/02/writing-you-name-it.html

http://nik-writealot.blogspot.com.es/2013/12/writing-tips-taking-michael-whats-in.html