Vermin

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Vermin

Vermin (in some dialect regions, Varmint, and its' variant Varmit) is a term applied to various animal species regarded as pests or nuisances and especially to those associated with the carrying of disease

Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
.

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Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included will vary from area to area and even person to person. The term itself derives from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
vermis, meaning worm, and originally had reference to the vermiform larva

Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e of certain insects, many of which infest foodstuffs. The term

Term

Term may refer to:*Term or terminology, a word or compound word used in a specific context*Technical term, part of the specialized vocabulary of a particular field...
'Varmint' dates as early as the first half of the seventeenth century

16th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century lasted from 1501 through 1600....
(ca. 1530

1530s

Events and trends...
-1540s

1540s

Events and trends*1541 Hernando_de_Soto_ was the first known European to see the Mississippi River.* 1542 The first known contact occurred between Japan and the West occurred, with Portugal being the first Westerners to contact the Japanese....
).

Spelling distinction

"Varmint" (occasionally "varmit" ) is an American-English colloquialism

Colloquialism

A colloquialism is an expression not used in formal Speech communication, writing or paralinguistics. Colloquialisms are also sometimes referred to collectively as "colloquial language"....
, particularly common to the American east and South-east within the nearby bordering states of the vast Appalachia

Appalachia

Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the Eastern United States United States that stretches from southern New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia ....
region. The term describes farm pests which raid farms as opposed to infest farms: mainly predators such as foxes, weasels, and coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the prairie wolf, is a species of canid found throughout North America and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States, and Canada....
s, sometimes even wolves or rarely, bears; but also (to a lesser degree) herbivores and burrowing animals which directly damage crops and land.

Although this version of the word Vermin is not a prevalent term in Standard Written English

Standard Written English

Standard Written English is an alphabetic, morphophonemic representation of the English language, and is the world?s most commonly used alphabetic code....
, it is a common descriptor for certain kinds of weapons and pest control

Pest control

Pest control refers to the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest , usually because it is perceived to be detrimental to a person's health, the ecology or the Economics....
situations in the Appalachian and nearby states and the American west and south-west which have adopted the alternative term"varmint rifle

Varmint rifle

Varmint rifle is an American English term for a small-caliber firearm or high-powered air gun primarily used for varmint hunting?killing animals such as rats, birds, squirrels, gophers and other animals considered to be farm pests....
", "varmint hunting" or "Varmit hunt(ing)", and terms like: "pesky varmint", which in popular culture is linked directly to the Warner Brothers Classic Cartoon

Cartoon

The word cartoon has various meanings, based on several very different forms of visual art and illustration. The term has evolved over time.The original meaning was in fine art, and there cartoon meant a preparatory drawing for a piece of art such as a painting or tapestry....
s featuring Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny is a fictional rabbit who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animation films produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, which became Warner Bros....
in cinema shorts paired with Yosemite Sam

Yosemite Sam

Yosemite Sam is an animation fictional character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation....
—who mangles the language such that varmit means an:

Scope of meanings

Disease-carrying rodent

Rodent

Rodentia is an Order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing Incisors#The_Rodent_incisor in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s and insect

Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s are the usual case, but the term is also applied to larger animals—especially small predators — on the basis that they exist out of balance

Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
with a human-defined (desired) environment

Natural environment

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that encompasses all life and non-living things occurring nature on Earth or some region thereof....
, where they are normally accused of consuming excessive resources

Natural resource

Renewable resources Renewable resources are sometimes living resources,, which can restock themselves if used sustainably and not over- harvested....
(such as feeding on crops, from a farmer

Farmer

A farmer is a person who raises living organisms for food or raw materials....
's point-of-view). Pigeons, which have been widely introduced in urban environments, may be considered vermin, or, pejoratively, "flying rats." Some varieties of snake are also referred to as vermin from time to time.

The term is also used as an extremely pejorative characterization of a particular class

Social class

Social class refers to the hierarchy distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. Usually most societies have some notion of social class , but concretely defined social classes are not found in every known type of human societies....
or group

Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common culture, linguistic, religion, human behaviour or Race traits, real or presumed, as indic...
of people as inferior and subhuman

Dehumanization

Dehumanization is the process by which members of a group of people assert the "inferiority" of another group through subtle or overt acts or statements....
, and often considered social parasites

Parasitism (social offense)

Social parasite is a derogatory term denoting a group or class in society which is considered to be detrimental to others, by taking advantage of them in some way....
. Application of the term can be wide, having been applied over the centuries in different language

Language

A language is a form of symbol communication in which elements are combined to represents something other than themselves. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon....
s, to various groups, and its use is usually based on a perception

Perception

In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sense information. It is a task far more complex than was imagined in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was predicted that building perceiving machines would take about a decade, a goal which is still very far from fruition....
that the target group's views are "disease-like," or that such groups exist out of sociological balance

Sociology

Sociology is a branch of the social sciences that uses systematic methods of Empiricism and critical theory to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, sometimes with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare....
with the common society.

Deterioration of balance

Introduced species can develop into vermin in the regions where they were introduced if they find favourable living conditions, and if they face few or no natural enemies there. In such cases, humans often choose to fill the role of the predator to limit the danger to the environment. A prime example of vermin is goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep: both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae....
s on the Galápagos Islands

Galápagos Islands

Gal?pagos Islands are an archipelago of Island#Volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, 972 km west of continental Ecuador....
. Rat

Rat

Rats are various medium sized, long-tailed rodents of the Family Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus....
s, mice, and cockroaches are common urban and suburban vermin. Cats, introduced to countries such as Australia have killed more indigenous wildlife than any other introduced animal, to the extent that they have been implicated in the extinction of many small mammals and amphibians.

Vermin

Spelling distinction

Scope of meanings

Deterioration of balance

See also