Drooling Like Pavlovian Dog, Unsavory Simile

Recently, a television food critic was raving over the menu of a local Los Angeles restaurant. His review was going well until he described a typical patron as:

"...drooling like a Pavlovian dog."

While it's true that our salivary glands might liven up at the thought of a sumptuous meal, or even a treat, to compare homo sapiens, "wise man" or "knowing man" to canines is unsavory when describing food. Furthermore, to say that we "drool" is to bring up thoughts of human infants, not serious restaurant goers. To use phrases like "Pavlovian dog," well, we're both in the animal kingdom, we're both mammals, but that it where it ends.

Once more, Sapiens means "wise, intelligent." We say of some dogs that they are intelligent, but never wise. Pavlov's dog was being conditioned to salivate based upon cues in a laboratory lacking the ambiance and subtle aromas coming out of a good kitchen. While we may be conditioned to react to certain cues, we are wise enough not to submit to them in a laboratory, unless of course, we were a starving student and needed the money.

The point: Keep your similes in the same species unless you mean to denigrate some individual.




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