wild, feral, ??, tame, domesticated

I'm in Minneapolis for 4 months on a consulting gig.

I looked out my new apartment window this morning and watched geese grazing on
the lawn. These were not domesticated geese, nor had their ancestors ever
been domesticated. They aren't exactly tame: I doubt that you could actually
touch one. But they don't scatter when a person or auto moves through their
flock. They actually seemed less alarmed than some domestic geese I've known
would have been.

I think they were eating the clippings of freshly mown grass, which has to be
the epitome of luxury for  geese: they don't even need to bite their food off
the stems.

I think there is a word missing in the English semantic space that would apply
to these geese, and the city pigeons and wrens that pick up crumbs underfoot
and you almost need to be careful not to step on them. Sort of the opposite
of feral. ("Weeds" or "pests" doesn't quite work, either...)

Tradespeech has many subtle distinctions in the wild/domesticated semantic
space. Shayanan interactions with other species on their world are often
subtler than those of humans (much as interpersonal interactions are more
likely to involve biochemical seduction than violence).

Imperial tends to have two categories: useful/cooperative, and dead.

--
Elyse Grasso

The World of Cherani Station
www.data-raptors.com/cherani/index.html
Cherani Tradespeech
www.data-raptors.com/cherani/tradespeech.html

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