pigeoning

Putting in boxes

Pigeoning is the practice of categorizing or stereotyping someone, treating them as fitting neatly into a single role or type.

The term derives from pigeonhole, the small compartments in old desks or dovecotes: Stop pigeoning me as just the funny friend.

It suggests reductive classification that ignores a person's complexity or range.

birds

homing

Steering toward a target

loftSpace beneath the roof
coopPoultry enclosure
dovecoteStructure housing domesticated birds

breeding · racing · fancier · squab · nesting · roost · flock · carrier · banding · ringing

categorizing

stereotyping

Oversimplified group-based judgments

labelingAssigning identifying markers
classifyingSorting into types
typecastRepeatedly assigned similar roles

boxing · sorting · compartmentalizing · grouping · narrowing · limiting · branding · tagging · slotting · profiling

hunting

trapping

Catching with concealed devices

shootingDischarging a weapon
nettingInterlaced open fabric
decoyFalse target for misdirection

lure · clay · sport · target · culling · pest control · capture · snare · baiting · feral

Opposites

categorization approach

pigeoningindividualizing

Making something personally distinct

differentiating · particularizing · contextualizing

categorical treatment

pigeoningindividualizing

Making something personally distinct

taking at face value · flexible thinking

deception

pigeoningleveling with

Speaking honestly to

Family

pigeon, pigeons, pigeonhole, pigeonholing, pigeonholed, pigeonholes, pigeoneer

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