I developed a love of the descriptive beauty of the English language from my mother. She had a deep and varied vocabulary and rarely came across a word she could not use contextually.

From my father, the corporate lawyer, I learned to appreciate the importance of the difference in minute shades of meaning among words chosen, including synonyms. No two words are exactly alike. For example, take the word “large.” Merriam-Webster lists as several of its synonyms: big, great, goodly, hefty, considerable. Each of these words has a different connotation, a different flavor and niche in our language, and I would use them differently, depending on what I was trying to convey.

The words we use matter a significant amount in animal sheltering. How we phrase our thoughts and messages conveys not only how we as the speaker see a situation but also colors how the person listening sees it. For example, let’s look at a common point in adoption counseling: age.

Many people are concerned about adopting older pets both for potential age-related health issues and because of their shorter expected lifespan. As an adoption counselor, if I describe a dog as “old” that may turn off an adopter who may be a phenomenal match otherwise. However, what if I describe a dog as “unyoung”? I promise it’s a real word, and yes, I’ve used it before and made adopters laugh, especially those who are unyoung themselves.

Adding humor into the flavor of our words always helps around here! Both words are technically correct, but culturally, we have connotations around the word “old,” and few of them are positive. However, some of the deepest and most meaningful relationships with pets we see are with older ones, and I would hate for adopters to miss out on a great match because the word I used conveyed unconscious negativity. The wrong word can be the difference between someone choosing to meet a pet or not.

Another great example of this is the word “hyper.” Very rarely is “hyper” used in a positive way. As someone with a sibling labeled as hyperactive who went through the public school system in the ’80s and ’90s, it holds a negative connotation to me of exasperated administrators using “hyper” in place of “bad” but meaning the same thing.

My brother simply could not sit still for long stretches; he needed to move. He used to read his homework standing or walking around; it’s just how his mind and body worked. Many of our dogs are young, healthy, energetic and in need of motion, like my brother was, and without a consistent outlet for their energy, they could be labeled as hyper. Do I describe them as such? Absolutely not. I will say “energetic” and describe the type of activity the pet needs and our best guess as to how much of it she may require.

If someone were to adopt my lab Jake, for example, I would say that he needs the ball thrown for him in 10-15 minute increments at least three times a day — longer if the weather and his bad hip allow — and to work on any training with him after one of those sessions. Before he chases the ball, he can’t hear you through his need for it and he would not be able to focus until he has worked that out of his system.

The same is true for many of the dogs housed in shelters. For some, they need to play with you or another dog; for others, a good run or a long walk will meet their needs. For a very select few, they need a working environment like a farm to meet their mental and physical needs. Explaining the pets’ needs go farther toward making a good adoption match than simply saying, “he’s hyper” or “she’s shy.”

My least favorite word used in the description of pets is “aggressive.” It means something different to each person and gives no description of the actual behavior seen. I have heard it used to describe behaviors spanning from barking to growling and from jumping up on people to lunging and biting. It is an imprecise word that has a strongly negative feel to it and does not accurately describe the behavior occurring.

Recently, we had a cat surrendered to the shelter whose guardian described her as aggressive. Upon further questioning, the cat was new to the home and avoiding the people in the home by hiding. She scratched someone in her panic to get away when they pulled her out of her hiding place. I do not consider that aggressive behavior, I consider it a reasonable reaction from a scared animal. Had she come out of her hiding space, chased people and proceeded to scratch them, then I would find calling her aggressive more reasonable, though still not descriptive of her actions.

As in the above examples, there are many words that mean different things to different people and often objective descriptions are more effective than a simple adjective, especially when we are discussing pet and adopter matchmaking. My high-energy, ball-crazy dog is not the right dog for a home without room to run off-leash after a ball, but that same home may do very well with a high-energy dog that likes to go for daily jogs with his person. We ask a lot of clarifying questions in both surrender and adoption counseling and make an effort to be as clear in our descriptive language as possible.

Jess Townsend is executive director of Midcoast Humane.