wea-sel (n) 1. any of a worldwide group of agile, flesh-eating mammals (genus Mustela) related to the martens, with a long, slender body, short legs, and a long, bushy tail; they feed on rats, mice, birds, eggs, etc. 2. a sly, cunning, or sneaky person (v) 1. to use weasel words 2. [Colloq.] to avoid or evade a commitment or responsibility (with out)
weasel words words or remarks that are equivocal or deliberately ambiguous or misleading
The authors of Webster's dictionary are not to blame for the bad connotations associated with the word "weasel". It is the speakers of the English language who are ultimately responsible. And as speakers of the English language, we can choose to exercise care not to use words in a way that insults fellow members of the animal kingdom. But we can also go beyond that, and associate positive connotations to animal names that previously have been associated with negative things. Why do weasels need to be associated with deception, when other animals would be more suitable? It would be better to associate them with their agility, their courage, or their lithe, slender appearance.
While it may be a losing battle to improve the reputation of weasels in the English language, artificial languages do not have this deficiency. If you create your own language, you can make the words have whatever connotations you want. For this and other reasons, I began work on a new language called Jarda, which is illustrated with a sample above. (The sample, "Dêcis zjorr 'misjka'", is a Jarda translation of "Reclaiming the word 'weasel'.") One of the goals of Jarda is to remove the negative meanings associated with animal names and keep them from coming back by associating positive meanings with the same animal names. A weasel in Jarda, for instance, is "misjka", from which the long-tailed weasel in the picture derives her name, Meeshka. (The symbol that looks like an oddly distorted "3" is my signature, a combination of the Jarda characters for "H" and "M".) Calling someone a weasel in Jarda can mean a number of things, but never "deliberately misleading" or "avoiding responsibility". It could mean that someone is courageous and resourceful in the face of formidable opposition, or that they are slender and attractive, or both. Here is a sample of some of the meanings associated with the Jarda words for animals:
