Speciesist Dictionary

As part of my research on speciesism, I gathered the names of non-human animals that English speakers use to express something negative. This usage feeds speciesist thinking and keeps it alive. The list covers American, British, and Australian English. It remains far from complete, and I invite you to add to it.

An expression enters this dictionary when it does at least one of three things:

• it degrades a human through comparison with another animal (weasel, birdbrain)
• it draws on violence against animals or on their exploitation, even when the speaker means something positive (to kill two birds with one stone, cash cow)
• it ties an animal to an unpleasant experience (a can of worms, sick as a dog)

English also holds admiring expressions (eagle-eyed, lionhearted). They remain a minority. A study of 14 dictionaries of colloquial English found most animal metaphors for human personality uncomplimentary (Sommer & Sommer, 2011).

Three conventions:

• (US), (UK), and (AU) mark regional usage
• a gloss in parentheses follows the animal names that few readers know
• several entries record racist, sexist, or homophobic slurs. They appear here because they show how the animalization of others serves the dehumanization of humans

I try to drop these words from my own speech. Sometimes my tongue slips back onto the rails of dominant thinking, and I have to correct myself. May my non-human friends forgive me.

1. Albatross: a burden that someone cannot shake off – an albatross around his neck. From Coleridge's poem, where a sailor kills the bird and must wear the corpse.
2. Animal: a person judged brutal or out of control – they behaved like animals; you animal!
3. Ant: restlessness – ants in your pants
4. Ape:
4. • a large, clumsy, or brutal man – you big ape!
   • racist slur against Black people, with a long history of dehumanization
   • to imitate without thinking – to ape someone
   • to lose control – to go ape (US); to go apeshit
5. Ass (donkey): a stupid or stubborn person – he made an ass of himself; jackass; asinine. Note: the American ass meaning “buttocks” comes from arse, a different word.
6. Baboon: a coarse or ugly person; also a racist slur against Black people
7. Badger: to harass someone without letup – stop badgering me. From badger-baiting, a blood sport that set dogs on a captive badger.
8. Barnacle: a person who clings to others and will not let go
9. Barracuda: a ruthless, predatory person, often in business
10. Bat:
10. • an unpleasant old woman – old bat
    • madness – batty; bats in the belfry; batshit crazy
    • poor eyesight – blind as a bat
11. Bear:
11. • a gruff, bad-tempered person – like a bear with a sore head (UK)
    • a painful task (US) – a bear of a job
    • a falling market – bear market. From the proverb about selling the bear's skin before catching the bear.
    • to provoke a dangerous person – to poke the bear
    • readiness for a fight, in the vocabulary of hunting (US) – loaded for bear
12. Beast:
12. • a cruel or brutal person – you beast!; bestial; beastly (UK)
    • a person used as a tool for labor – beast of burden
    • something hard to handle – a beast of a problem
13. Beaver:
13. • vulgar term for a woman's genitals
    • an overzealous person – eager beaver
14. Bee:
14. • an obsession – a bee in her bonnet
    • a domineering woman – queen bee
15. Bird:
15. • a young woman, reduced to an object of desire (UK)
    • a stupid person – birdbrain
    • a prisoner – jailbird
    • something worthless (US) – strictly for the birds
    • an obscene gesture (US) – to flip the bird
    • efficiency expressed through killing – to kill two birds with one stone
16. Bitch (female dog):
16. • slur against a woman judged malicious, demanding, or simply assertive
    • a man treated as weak or subservient – he made him his bitch
    • to complain – to bitch about something
    • a painful situation – a bitch of a day
    • general insult – son of a bitch
17. Buck (male deer): (US) racist term once applied to Black and Native American men, cast as livestock or game
18. Buffalo: (US) to intimidate or bewilder – he buffaloed the witness
19. Bug:
19. • to annoy – stop bugging me
    • an illness – a stomach bug
    • a defect – a bug in the system
    • madness (US) – crazy as a bedbug
    • total defeat, through an image of crushing – to squash someone like a bug
20. Bull:
20. • lies, nonsense – bullshit; a load of bull
    • clumsiness – a bull in a china shop
    • stubbornness – bullheaded
    • homophobic slur against lesbians – bull dyke
    • provocation – like a red rag to a bull
    • to confront a difficulty, through an image of physical domination – to take the bull by the horns
21. Bunny:
21. • a naive or stupid person – dumb bunny
    • a woman reduced to decoration – ski bunny; beach bunny
    • racist slur against Black people (US) – jungle bunny
    • an obsessive, vengeful woman (UK) – bunny boiler. From the film Fatal Attraction (1987), where a character boils a child's rabbit.
22. Butterfly:
22. • a person judged superficial or fickle – social butterfly
    • anxiety – butterflies in the stomach
23. Buzzard: (US) a disagreeable old man – old buzzard
24. Calf: celebration expressed through slaughter – to kill the fatted calf
25. Camel:
25. • the last small burden that breaks someone – the straw that broke the camel's back
    • racist slur against Arabs (US) – camel jockey
26. Canary:
26. • an informer – to sing like a canary
    • an early warning paid for with a life – canary in the coal mine. Miners carried caged canaries underground; the bird died first when gas leaked.
27. Cat:
27. • a spiteful woman – catty; catfight
    • a rich person who profits from others – fat cat
    • a coward – scaredy-cat; fraidy-cat (US)
    • an imitator – copycat
    • a brothel (US) – cathouse
    • a promiscuous person – alley cat; tomcat
    • to toy with a victim – to play cat and mouse
    • bad weather – raining cats and dogs
    • casual cruelty – more than one way to skin a cat; no room to swing a cat; curiosity killed the cat
28. Catfish: to lure someone with a fake online identity – to catfish someone
29. Cattle: people handled as a mass – herded like cattle; cattle call (US); cattle class (UK)
30. Chameleon: a person who changes opinions or manners to suit the moment
31. Chick: a young woman, reduced to something small and cute – chick flick; chick lit
32. Chicken:
32. • a coward – chicken; to chicken out; chicken-hearted
    • worthless or petty (US) – chickenshit; chicken feed
    • panic – running around like a headless chicken. An image taken straight from slaughter.
    • a dangerous test of nerve – to play chicken
    • aging, mostly said of women – no spring chicken
33. Chimp (chimpanzee): a foolish person; also a racist slur against Black people
34. Clam: to fall silent – to clam up
35. Cock (rooster):
35. • arrogance – cocky; cocksure; cock of the walk
    • vulgar term for the penis
    • an absurd tale – cock-and-bull story
    • a clash of male egos, named after a blood sport – cockfight
36. Cockroach: a person treated as loathsome and fit for extermination; also roach (US). Genocidal propaganda used the word against Tutsi people in Rwanda in 1994.
37. Coon (raccoon): (US) violent racist slur against Black people, usually traced to raccoon
38. Coot (a water bird): a foolish old man – old coot; bald as a coot
39. Cougar: an older woman who pursues younger men
40. Cow:
40. • slur for a woman judged stupid, fat, or unpleasant – silly cow (UK); fat cow; silly moo (UK)
    • a steady source of profit – cash cow
    • to exploit – to milk someone; to milk it
    • a belief placed beyond criticism, an image borrowed from Hindu respect for cows – sacred cow
    • an outburst of anger (US) – to have a cow
41. Coyote: (US) a smuggler who takes migrants across the Mexican border
42. Crab:
42. • a bad-tempered person – crabby
    • pubic lice – crabs
    • people who drag down anyone who tries to rise – crabs in a bucket
43. Crocodile: fake sorrow – crocodile tears
44. Crow:
44. • an old or ugly woman – old crow
    • to boast – to crow about something
    • humiliation (US) – to eat crow
    • wrinkles – crow's feet
    • a thin, ragged person – scarecrow
    • the system of racial segregation in the United States – Jim Crow. From a blackface minstrel character of the 1830s.
45. Cuckoo:
45. • crazy – cuckoo; cloud-cuckoo-land
    • a man whose wife has sex with another man – cuckold; hence the political insult cuck (US). From the cuckoo's habit of laying eggs in other nests.
    • an intruder – a cuckoo in the nest
46. Cur (a dog of mixed ancestry): a contemptible, cowardly man
47. Deer: paralysis through fear – a deer in the headlights. An image of the second before a car strikes.
48. Dingo: (AU) a coward or a cheat
49. Dinosaur: a person or institution judged outdated
50. Dodo:
50. • a stupid person – dumb as a dodo
    • gone for good – dead as a dodo. Humans drove dodos to extinction in the 17th century.
51. Dog:
51. • a contemptible man – dirty dog
    • slur for a woman judged ugly
    • something of poor quality (US) – a dog of a movie
    • to pursue or plague – dogged by scandal
    • misery – a dog's life; sick as a dog; dog-tired; to go to the dogs; in the doghouse; to die like a dog
    • ruthless competition – dog-eat-dog
    • a servile follower – lapdog; running dog; attack dog
    • a drudge (UK) – dogsbody
    • a mess (UK) – a dog's breakfast
    • a guilty, beaten look – hangdog
    • the expected loser – underdog
    • a person who keeps from others what they cannot use themselves – dog in the manger
    • bad verse – doggerel
52. Donkey:
52. • a stupid or stubborn person
    • drudgery (UK) – donkey work
    • a clumsy soccer player (UK)
53. Drone (male bee):
53. • an idler who lives off the work of others
    • to speak at length in a dull voice – to drone on
54. Drongo (a bird): (AU) a stupid person. Said to come from a 1920s racehorse of that name who never won a race.
55. Duck:
55. • an easy target – sitting duck
    • an official with no power left at the end of a term – lame duck
    • a doomed person or project – dead duck
    • an odd person (US) – odd duck
    • a child judged unattractive – ugly duckling
56. Eel: an evasive, untrustworthy person – slippery as an eel
57. Elephant:
57. • slur for a fat or clumsy person
    • a costly, useless possession – white elephant
    • an obvious problem that nobody mentions – the elephant in the room
58. Ferret:
58. • a sly, sharp-featured person – ferret-faced
    • to search out – to ferret out. From hunting rabbits with ferrets.
59. Filly (young female horse): (dated) a lively young woman
60. Fish:
60. • an unfeeling person – cold fish
    • an odd person (UK) – queer fish
    • suspicious – fishy
    • a coarse, loud woman – fishwife
    • insignificant people – small fry
    • a person who profits from the misfortune of others (US) – bottom feeder
    • a new prisoner (US) – fresh fish
    • heavy drinking – to drink like a fish
    • a person out of place, through an image of suffocation – a fish out of water
    • an easy win, through an image of slaughter – like shooting fish in a barrel
    • more important matters, through an image of cooking – bigger fish to fry
61. Flea:
61. • a shabby person or place – fleabag; flea-bitten; fleapit (UK)
    • a sharp rebuke – a flea in his ear
62. Fly:
62. • mass death or collapse – to drop like flies
    • a flaw that spoils everything – a fly in the ointment
    • a person who spends their days in bars – barfly
63. Fox:
63. • a cunning, deceitful person – sly as a fox; to outfox
    • a woman judged by her sexual appeal – foxy
    • a predator put in charge of the victims – a fox guarding the henhouse
64. Frog:
64. • slur against French people – Frog; Froggy
    • hoarseness – a frog in the throat
    • slow harm that goes unnoticed, through an image of boiling alive – the boiling frog
65. Gadfly: a person who irritates others with constant criticism
66. Galah (a cockatoo): (AU) a loud fool – you flaming galah!
67. Gannet (a seabird): (UK) a greedy eater
68. Gnat: an insignificant, irritating person
69. Goat:
69. • a lecherous old man – old goat
    • a person made to carry the blame – scapegoat. From a ritual in Leviticus that loads a goat with the sins of the people and drives the goat into the wilderness.
    • the player blamed for a defeat (US) – the goat
    • to irritate – to get someone's goat
    • the bad ones in a group – to separate the sheep from the goats
70. Goldfish:
70. • a short memory – the memory of a goldfish
    • life under constant watch – goldfish bowl
71. Goose:
71. • a silly person – silly goose
    • to poke someone between the buttocks – to goose
    • ruin – to cook someone's goose
    • a futile search – wild-goose chase
    • greed that destroys its own source – to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs
72. Gorilla:
72. • a big, brutal man; hired muscle
    • racist slur against Black people
    • a dominant force that does as it pleases (US) – the 800-pound gorilla
73. Guinea pig: a person used as a test subject. From the routine use of guinea pigs in laboratory experiments.
74. Hack (a horse for hire): a writer or politician who turns out mediocre work for pay – hack writer; party hack. From hackney, a horse rented out and worn down by overwork.
75. Hamster: pointless, endless routine – hamster wheel. An image of captivity.
76. Hare:
76. • reckless, foolish – harebrained
    • madness – mad as a March hare
77. Hawk:
77. • a politician who favors war
    • intrusive watching – to watch someone like a hawk
78. Heifer (young cow): (US) slur for a woman judged fat
79. Hen:
79. • a fussy or gossiping woman – old hen; mother hen; old biddy
    • a gathering of women (UK) – hen party
    • a man dominated by his wife – henpecked
    • anger (US) – mad as a wet hen
80. Herd: people who follow without thinking – herd mentality; to follow the herd
81. Herring: a false trail – red herring
82. Hippo (hippopotamus): slur for a fat person
83. Hog:
83. • a greedy or selfish person – to hog the road; road hog
    • nonsense – hogwash. From the kitchen waste fed to pigs.
    • rendered helpless (US) – hog-tied. From the tying of a pig's four legs.
    • excess – to go the whole hog
    • luxury, measured in cuts of flesh (US) – to live high on the hog
84. Hornet:
84. • a violent reaction – to stir up a hornet's nest
    • anger (US) – mad as a hornet
85. Horse:
85. • a coarse, long face – horse-faced
    • nonsense (US) – horseshit; horsefeathers
    • rough play – horseplay; horsing around
    • arrogance – get off your high horse
    • a person who grinds through hard labor – workhorse
    • a small, dull place (US) – one-horse town
    • old age – long in the tooth. From the practice of judging a horse's age by the teeth.
    • to discard someone who no longer serves – to put out to pasture
    • wasted effort, through an image of beating – to beat a dead horse (US); to flog a dead horse (UK)
    • control, in the vocabulary of riding – to rein in; to saddle someone with; to ride roughshod over
86. Hound:
86. • to pursue without rest – hounded by the press. From hunting with dogs.
    • a person obsessed with one pursuit – publicity hound
87. Hyena:
87. • a person who feeds on the misfortune of others
    • shrill laughter – to laugh like a hyena
88. Insect: an insignificant, contemptible person – you insect
89. Jackal: an opportunist who follows the powerful to pick up scraps
90. Jade (a worn-out horse): (dated) a woman judged disreputable; hence jaded, worn out
91. Jay: (US, dated) a naive country person; hence jaywalker
92. Jellyfish: a person without firmness or courage – spineless as a jellyfish
93. Kangaroo:
93. • a sham tribunal – kangaroo court
    • madness (AU) – kangaroos loose in the top paddock
94. Kipper (a smoked herring): (UK) cheated or framed – stitched up like a kipper
95. Kitten:
95. • a woman reduced to sexual appeal – sex kitten
    • panic (UK) – to have kittens
    • weakness – weak as a kitten
96. Lamb:
96. • an innocent led to harm – like a lamb to the slaughter
    • a person given up for the benefit of others – sacrificial lamb
    • an older woman dressed in a style judged too young (UK) – mutton dressed as lamb
97. Leech: a person who lives off others – to leech off someone
98. Lemming: a person who follows the crowd into disaster. The image rests on a myth: lemmings do not throw themselves off cliffs.
99. Leopard: a bad character that cannot change – a leopard cannot change its spots
100. Limpet (a sea snail): (UK) a person who clings – to cling like a limpet
101. Lion:
101. • mortal danger – the lion's den; to throw someone to the lions
     • the largest part, taken by force – the lion's share
102. Lizard:
102. • a man who idles in bars in search of women – lounge lizard
     • the part of the mind cast as primitive – lizard brain
103. Lobster: sunburn or embarrassment – red as a lobster. Lobsters turn red when boiled alive.
104. Locust: people cast as a devouring swarm – they descended like locusts
105. Loon (a diving bird): madness (US) – crazy as a loon. Note: loony comes from lunatic.
106. Louse:
106. • a contemptible person – louse; lousy
     • to ruin (US) – to louse up
     • a fool (UK) – nit, the egg of a louse
     • petty criticism – nitpicking. From the removal of lice eggs by hand.
107. Maggot: a despicable person – you maggot
108. Magpie: a compulsive hoarder or chatterer
109. Mare (female horse): (UK) contemptuous term for a woman – silly mare
110. Master: as under slavery, a dog or a horse has a “master”
111. Minnow (a small fish): a small, unimportant player
112. Mole: a spy planted inside an organization
113. Mongrel (a dog of mixed ancestry):
113. • racist term for a person of mixed ancestry
     • a contemptible person (AU)
114. Monkey:
114. • racist slur against Black people – also porch monkey (US)
     • to humiliate – to make a monkey out of someone
     • foolish or dishonest behavior – monkey business; to monkey around
     • a low-status worker – grease monkey; code monkey; a trained monkey could do it
     • mindless imitation – monkey see, monkey do
     • an addiction or burden – a monkey on your back
115. Moth:
115. • self-destructive attraction – like a moth to a flame
     • shabby, worn out – moth-eaten
116. Mouse:
116. • a timid, quiet person – mousy; man or mouse?
     • poverty – poor as a church mouse
117. Mule:
117. • a stubborn person – stubborn as a mule; mulish
     • a person who carries drugs across a border – drug mule
     • racist term for a person with one Black and one white parent – mulatto, usually traced to the Spanish mulo, “mule”
118. Mutt:
118. • a stupid person (US). Short for muttonhead.
     • a person of mixed ancestry
119. Newt: (UK) very drunk – pissed as a newt
120. Octopus:
120. • a man who gropes
     • an organization with a grip on everything
121. Ostrich: a person who refuses to face reality – to bury your head in the sand. The image rests on a myth: ostriches do no such thing.
122. Owner: as under slavery, the law treats animals as property with an “owner”
123. Ox: a big, slow, stupid man – dumb ox
124. Parrot:
124. • to repeat without understanding – to parrot; parrot-fashion (UK)
     • bitter disappointment (UK) – sick as a parrot
125. Peacock: a vain man who shows off – proud as a peacock; peacocking
126. Pet: an animal kept for human pleasure; hence a favorite who enjoys privileges – teacher's pet
127. Pig:
127. • a dirty, greedy, or rude person – you pig; pigsty; to pig out; to eat like a pig
     • a sexist man – male chauvinist pig
     • slur for a police officer
     • slur for a fat person – fat pig; porker; porky
     • stubbornness – pigheaded
     • a purchase made blind – a pig in a poke
     • a useless disguise – lipstick on a pig
     • to botch (UK) – to make a pig's ear of something
     • disbelief – when pigs fly
     • heavy sweating or bleeding – to sweat like a pig; to bleed like a stuck pig. The second comes straight from slaughter.
     • the body as meat – to save someone's bacon; to bring home the bacon
128. Pigeon:
128. • a dupe, an easy mark
     • an informer – stool pigeon. Said to come from hunters who tied a decoy pigeon to a stool.
     • to lock someone into a narrow category – to pigeonhole
     • body shapes judged defective – pigeon-toed; pigeon-chested
129. Piranha: a ruthless person who attacks as part of a group
130. Pit bull: an aggressive, relentless person – the party's pit bull; also bulldog. Breeders shaped both dogs for blood sports.
131. Polecat (a relative of the weasel): a foul-smelling or contemptible person
132. Pony:
132. • a person with a single skill – one-trick pony
     • an elaborate show put on to impress (US) – dog and pony show. Both come from the circus.
133. Poodle: (UK) a servile follower of someone powerful – the president's poodle
134. Popinjay (an old word for parrot): a vain, talkative person
135. Possum: to feign sleep, death, or ignorance – to play possum
136. Predator: a person who hunts others, often for sex – sexual predator; to prey on the weak
137. Puppy:
137. • an arrogant young man (dated) – insolent puppy; young pup; whelp
     • childish infatuation – puppy love
     • cheated in a deal (UK) – sold a pup
138. Pussy (cat):
138. • vulgar term for a woman's genitals
     • a man judged weak or cowardly
     • excessive caution – to pussyfoot around
     • a man dominated by his wife (US) – pussy-whipped
139. Rabbit:
139. • frequent sex or many children – to breed like rabbits
     • fear (UK) – like a rabbit caught in the headlights
     • a blow to the back of the neck – rabbit punch. Named after a way of killing rabbits.
140. Rat:
140. • a traitor or informer – to rat on someone; rat fink (US); to smell a rat
     • a despicable person – dirty rat; love rat (UK); ratbag (UK, AU)
     • a squalid place – rat hole
     • exhausting competition – the rat race
     • a test subject – lab rat
     • deserters – rats leaving a sinking ship
     • soaked and miserable – like a drowned rat
     • total indifference (US) – I don't give a rat's ass
141. Reptile: a cold, repulsive, or treacherous person – reptilian
142. Rhinoceros: insensitivity – the hide of a rhinoceros
143. Rook (a bird of the crow family): to swindle – he got rooked
144. Runt (the smallest newborn of a litter): a small, weak person – the runt of the litter
145. Sardine: crowding – packed like sardines. An image of dead bodies in a can.
146. Savage: a person cast as brutal and uncivilized – savagery; a savage attack. Colonial powers applied the word to Indigenous peoples and to free animals alike.
147. Seal: (US) a person who performs or applauds on command – trained seal
148. Shark: a ruthless, greedy person – loan shark; card shark
149. Sheep:
149. • a person who follows without thinking – like sheep; sheeple
     • embarrassment – sheepish
     • the disgraced member of a family – black sheep
     • to swindle – to fleece someone. From shearing.
     • a stupid person (US) – muttonhead
     • slur aimed at rural people, the Welsh, and New Zealanders (UK, AU) – sheep-shagger
150. Shrew (a small insect-eating mammal): a scolding, bad-tempered woman – shrewish. Medieval belief held shrews venomous.
151. Shrimp: a small or weak person
152. Skunk:
152. • a contemptible person
     • very drunk – drunk as a skunk
     • to defeat utterly (US) – to skunk
153. Snail: slowness – at a snail's pace
154. Snake:
154. • a treacherous person – snake in the grass; viper; serpent; nest of vipers
     • a fraud (US) – snake oil salesman
     • a place of vicious rivalry – snake pit
     • moral baseness (US, AU) – lower than a snake's belly
155. Snipe (a wading bird):
155. • to attack from cover, with words or with a rifle – to snipe at; sniper. From the hunting of snipes.
     • a street child, with contempt – guttersnipe
156. Sow (female pig): slur for a woman judged fat or slovenly
157. Sponge (a marine animal): a person who lives off others – sponger; to sponge off
158. Squirrel: (US) nervous, odd, unreliable – squirrelly
159. Stud (a male horse kept for breeding): a man valued for sexual performance
160. Swarm: people cast as a mass of insects – a swarm of migrants; to infest
161. Swine: a contemptible person – you swine; pearls before swine
162. Termite: a person who undermines from within
163. Tiger: a threat with no real power – paper tiger
164. Toad:
164. • a repulsive person – you toad
     • a servile flatterer – toady. From toad-eater, a charlatan's assistant who swallowed toads, held poisonous, so that the master could claim a cure.
165. Trout: (UK) an older woman judged unattractive or bad-tempered – old trout
166. Turkey:
166. • a stupid or inept person (US)
     • a flop, often a film or a play (US)
     • abrupt withdrawal from a drug – cold turkey
     • people who back their own destruction (UK) – turkeys voting for Christmas. An image of slaughter.
167. Turtle:
167. • a slow person; also tortoise
     • to capsize – to turn turtle. From sailors who flipped turtles on their backs to capture them.
168. Vermin: people treated as a pest to eliminate – vermin; varmint (US). Nazi propaganda cast Jews as rats and lice, and the vocabulary of extermination followed.
169. Vixen (female fox): a quarrelsome woman; a woman cast as sexually dangerous
170. Vulture: a person who profits from the misfortune or death of others – vultures circling overhead; vulture fund
171. Wasp: irritable, sharp-tongued – waspish
172. Weasel:
172. • a sly, sneaking person
     • to escape an obligation – to weasel out
     • evasive language – weasel words
173. Whale:
173. • slur for a fat person – beached whale
     • a gambler who stakes fortunes, courted by casinos as prey
174. Wolf:
174. • a man who pursues women aggressively – wolf whistle
     • a hidden predator – a wolf in sheep's clothing
     • a violent loner – lone wolf
     • to eat greedily – to wolf down
     • a false alarm – to cry wolf
     • to abandon someone to danger – to throw someone to the wolves
     • hunger and poverty – to keep the wolf from the door
175. Worm:
175. • a weak, contemptible person – you worm
     • to slip into a position through cunning – to worm your way in
     • a person mocked for reading too much – bookworm
     • a tangle of problems – a can of worms. From the bait cans of anglers.
176. Zoo: a place of chaos, with the cages taken for granted – the office turned into a zoo

Sources

• Sommer, R. & Sommer, B. A. (2011). Zoomorphy: animal metaphors for human personality. Anthrozoös, 24(3), 237–248.