19

We have tags for and . These seem to be the same bucket of questions; should there be a synonym here? If so in which direction? I'm not sure how I feel about "poop" as a tag name.

Additional thoughts: I think part of the problem, and why no consensus has emerged in the answers, is that we're trying to use both verbs (pooping) and nouns (droppings) here. If I have a question about why my pet is having trouble passing his solid wastes, I'm not going to think of "feces", "droppings", "waste", etc. On the other hand, if my question is about the output itself, I'm probably not going to be thinking of verbs like "pooping" or "eliminating". While any resolution of this should account for both cases (via synonyms), it might be worth thinking about which case we think will be more common and using that to choose the primary tag.

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  • 2
    synonyms yes, but maybe another euphemism is needed?
    – psubsee2003
    Commented Oct 10, 2013 at 22:36
  • 11
    You mean you don't want to get a gold badge in pooping?
    – Taryn
    Commented Oct 10, 2013 at 22:50
  • 1
    Feel secure that I didn't go with my gut instincts when I made the pooping tag.
    – JoshDM
    Commented Oct 10, 2013 at 22:50
  • 1
    Also, everybody does it.
    – JoshDM
    Commented Oct 10, 2013 at 22:51
  • 5
    I'm not sure if I'll be amused or sad if this question ends up producing my first "Nice" badge on the site. :-)
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 1:35
  • 4
    Now that I think about it, I may well want a gold badge in pooping... :D
    – Joanne C
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 2:20
  • 2
    We could use the s word instead. :D
    – jmort253
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 4:40
  • 1
    Re this, you guys did that on purpose, right? :-) (And the answer is "amused".)
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 13:11
  • Keep that up and we'll make sure you're a pooping pundit as well.
    – JoshDM
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 16:32

8 Answers 8

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8

How about ?

This is an appropriate umbrella term for poop, pee, droppings and so on for all sorts of animal…leftovers.

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    I like this but I am not sure if people will automatically think of excrements as a the tag for poop, droppings, etc. Possibly make those a synonym with this as the main tag.
    – Taryn
    Commented Oct 10, 2013 at 22:51
  • 2
    Maybe. That one should actually be singular if we use it, though. (It's, um, a mass noun, not a counting noun, I believe.)
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 0:44
  • 1
    I believe it can be pluralized with the s when referring to different types of defecation, which may be the case here. We can ask the English language SE.
    – JoshDM
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 2:33
  • "Poop" is a bit of an Americanism too. As a Brit, I wouldn't automatically think of it.
    – starsplusplus
    Commented Feb 5, 2014 at 10:38
7

I know introducing tag synonyms early in a beta is usually discouraged, but I can't help but think that there are just so many different ways people refer to crap (another tag!) that it may not be a bad idea to just plan on making these all synonyms as soon as there's a moderator who can do so.

Waiting for the beta moderators will also give us some time to think about this.

0
3

feces another scientific term that people may find unpalatable. It is the term vets use. shrugs I know none of us like acknowledging it.

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  • This does raise another problem of consistency of spelling, as it can also acceptably be spelled "feces".
    – user53
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 4:04
  • It is up to you, I just figured it didn't hurt to point it out :)
    – user53
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 4:09
  • 2
    feces is applicable to many species.
    – JoshDM
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 4:46
  • 1
    The problem is feces typically covers only bowel movements. Do we really want a separate urination tag as well? I'd be move in favor of a single umbrella tag for all exerements.
    – psubsee2003
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 8:57
2

As the creator of , I almost went with , but I was referring to a dog, and dogs... poop.

This thread will be a delight for future resumes.

2

Given the volume and difference of answers. Maybe we should wait and let the natural course of events sort it out. Once there are more postings with more tags, and more people with more thoughts, who have high enough counts they can vote on tag synonyms.

For this topic, there will always be more.

-3

I think is a good tag for this kind of question and should make and its synonym. is going to be a troubling tag because all user doesn't going to understand it (No offense @Baarn). Other suggestions are also sounds little wired too but in think is a common and famous term and will not going to arise any trouble.

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    And it still lets John Cavan get the badge he wants. :-)
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 18:41
-3

works for urination, defecation, excreting ammonia, etc.

5
  • It does, but it isn't very intuitive.
    – Lix
    Commented Oct 13, 2013 at 10:49
  • @Lix It would be the tag to which everything else could be synonymized. Also, it is intuitive to experts.
    – jonsca
    Commented Oct 13, 2013 at 10:55
  • I feel that elimination is rather ambiguous.
    – Lix
    Commented Oct 13, 2013 at 10:57
  • 1
    @lix it's general, but I don't think it's ambiguous. We can either separate out bird-doodles, dog-cat-excretion, fish-waste-exchange, or encompass it with one thing so people can search the tag if that's what they (happen) to be interested in.
    – jonsca
    Commented Oct 13, 2013 at 11:01
  • I guess it really is too early to decide... With regard to being intuitive to experts I'm not really sure as I'm no expert :P
    – Lix
    Commented Oct 13, 2013 at 11:02
-7

would be good since that's really the question at heart of all the questions about animal waste. This isn't biology, we're not so much interested in the composition as the collection and getting rid thereof.

If we want a shorter or less industrial tag, just might work.

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    waste-management isn't a good synonym. While it might be applicable to all current questions that use the tags in question, I can image that there will be questions about poop that don't have anything to do with how to get if of it. Eg: "my dog eats poop", "my rabbits droppings are yellow, am I feeding to many carrots?" etc
    – Baarn
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 8:19
  • 1
    waste management is the name of my trash company. I get the idea here, but I'm with @Skippy too industrial
    – psubsee2003
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 8:58

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