Good on you for standing up to that nonsense, I would openly mock them as well. When covid happened I once told someone who was half-jokingly ( I think lol ) saying she would make a big deal at a picnic about social distancing and I said if she did that I would forever call her Karen. These people need to be more openly mocked for their bullshit.
The logic of it is simple, in Clown World(tm)
My own mother called her cat her "fur baby" a couple of years ago, and I told her to her face "Please never say that again."
As far as I'm aware, she hasn't since.
Good on you for standing up to that nonsense, I would openly mock them as well. When covid happened I once told someone who was half-jokingly ( I think lol ) saying she would make a big deal at a picnic about social distancing and I said if she did that I would forever call her Karen. These people need to be more openly mocked for their bullshit.
My family tried to pin "dog uncle" on me after my sister got herself a dog. I said never to call me that ever again, and thankfully they haven't.
I love and respect animals, but they are not people.