To the Alpha Male and Alpha Female
From a wolf researcher
So, we all know that the “alpha male / female” fad comes from wolves.
Essentially, the point of this story is to coin the term “a guy who says ‘alpha male’ is probably not one.”
You see, in the Nature documentary Cold Warriors: Wolves and Buffalo, the Nature photographer explains there is an alpha male and alpha female in all healthy wolf packs. All healthy wolf packs will have a mother and a father. One alpha will protect the pups and one alpha will lead a hunt.
In research and observation, the team will say “alpha male”, because a viewer can’t just tell the difference between males and females in wolves, so the narrator will say “alpha male” so the viewer will know the gender/sex of the leader they are talking about, key word is “leader”, but that’s another topic.
Likewise with healthy humans, we will be an alpha male or female or we are a follower. Humans shouldn’t say “alpha male” or “alpha female”, they should just say “alpha”. A man saying “alpha male” makes me cringe and want to respond, “um yeah, let’s not use phrases just because others use them.”
When I hear “alpha male” or “alpha female” I’m waiting to hear a story about how an animal was one, sort of like:
- “that mouse just pulled the alpha male card” if they know it is a male mouse
- if it’s a lion someone can use “male” or “female” if there is no image and they can use just “alpha” in collaboration with an image, then we intellectuals will all get it
Conclusion
Step 1 in being an alpha is learning communication. If I say “that speech was chair”, that says everything someone needs to know about me. No teacher or parent will advise someone to use a word where it doesn’t belong.
