A few years ago the Duke University student newspaper, The Chronicle, published an article on undergraduates working in scientific research. One such student, employed in biomedical research as I recall, was quoted as saying, "In my job, I work with rats." This provoked a letter to the editor signed by all his coworkers in the lab and protesting that "we are NOT rats, and even the one of us who is doesn't like to be reminded of it!"
(From the "Rest" of RHF)