Japanese kindergarteners learn to call animals with a -san.
Elephants = ぞうさん = Zou-san
Lions = らいおんさん = Raion-san
Ants = ありさん = Ari-san
Rabbits = うさぎさん = Usagi-san
Pigs = ぶたさん = Buta-san
etc.
If you run into someone walking a dog and you want to talk about it, you shouldn’t call it dog = 犬さん = Inu-san because it sounds too cold as a salutation for a family member of the other person. Some dog owners may be offended. So you should instead call the dog わんちゃん = Wanchan.
わんわん = Wanwan is the Japanese equivalent of Bow-wow, and in baby-talk, dogs are in fact called わんわん.
Similarily, cats are called にゃんちゃん= Nyanchan as often as 猫さん = Neko-san, as にゃん or にゃー are the Japanese equivalents of Meow.
Let’s address animals correctly 😂.
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