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      • Is Calling Someone a Guinea Pig Slang? It’s not so much slang as it is a popular idiom. Guinea pig literally refers to the cute rodent, but using it to describe someone as a test subject is an established and widely understood idiomatic expression. So, it’s a step above casual slang and has earned its spot in standard English.
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  2. Nov 8, 2010 · Guinea pigs are often used as a metaphor for any subject of scientific experimentation (e.g. "human guinea pigs"), and this idea persists even though guinea pigs are no longer commonly used as modern experimental animals, as rats and mice (which breed quicker) have replaced them.

  3. What's the meaning of the phrase 'Guinea-pig'? A person or animal who is used as the subject of an experiment. What's the origin of the phrase 'Guinea-pig'? It isn’t at all clear why these cute family pets came to be given their name. They are cavies, not pigs, and they don’t originate from Guinea.

  4. What is another term that would carry the same meaning (other than "lab rat")? I don't simply want other words for "guinea pig", like rodent or cavy. I'm hoping someone knows of a good term with the same interpretation but completely different and unrelated to "guinea pig".

  5. Is Calling Someone a Guinea Pig Slang? It’s not so much slang as it is a popular idiom. Guinea pig literally refers to the cute rodent, but using it to describe someone as a test subject is an established and widely understood idiomatic expression.

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  6. Guinea Pigs: The Origin Of The Term. It’s unclear why guinea pigs have been given such a name, but many people think that ‘pig’ is due to their shape and mannerisms. They are round and stout with blunt heads, and walk in a similar fashion to actual pigs.

  7. Dec 22, 2009 · The guinea pig (or “cavy”), a small rodent of the genus Cavia, originated in South America but is now found in cages – and on laps – throughout the world. So it isn’t from Guinea (which is the name of both a country and a region in western Africa), and it isn’t a pig.

  8. The animal commonly known as a Guinea pig is neither from Guinea, a region in West Africa, nor is it a pig. It is in fact a rodent from South America. The ‘pig’ part is easy to understand because the breed was called cavia porcellus, the latter being Latin for ‘little pig’.

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