Human-ish: Difference between revisions

'''Human-ish''' was a term unfavourably described people who were genetically close to [[human]]s. Like the [[Tylerkind]], who had genetically adapted to life on the mostly-acquatic [[Tyler's Folly]], human-ish people had slightly different, and undesirable, physiologies from the human baseline. According to [[Kommander]] [[Ernst Katastrophen]] and others, the word '''subhuman''' was a synonym. Equally, at a much later period in history, [[Lady Cassandra]], who claimed to be "the last human", spoke as if humans were superior to the "human-ish".

Thus, unlike the term ''[[humanoid]]'', ''human-ish'' was flatly derogatory. Indeed, the measurement of "human-ish-ness" was used in at least the [[26th century]] as a means of racial suppression by the [[SSSSSSS]]. In the middle of the century, legislation by the name of the [[First Demographic Charter of 2537]] arose which gave both power and definition to the measurement of a person's level of humanity. [[Bernice Summerfield]] found the SSSSSSS' efforts at genetic management on Tyler's Folly both laughable and worthy of her opposition. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Down (novel)|Down]]'')  

In the year [[5,000,000,000]], the [[Ninth Doctor]] and [[Rose Tyler]] listened while [[Lady Cassandra]] flatly implied that true humans were superior to the human-ish. Though genetics were a part of the way Cassandra vaguely defined the word, the term had at least a somewhat {{w|demonym|demonymic}} meaning for her, as she associated "true humanity" with having been born on Earth. ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of the World (TV story)|The End of the World]]'')

Technically, only the narrator of ''[[Down (novel)|Down]]'' uses the term ''human-ish'', allowing the [[SSSSSSS]] characters to use the more blatantly racist ''subhuman''. However, the term does appear in dialogue in ''The End of the World''. Hence, from the book, we derive the hyphenated spelling and from the episode comes the fact that the term is definitely known by average characters in the [[DWU]].