Gorilla, Guerilla

The more you learn about the dignity of the gorilla, the more you want to avoid people.” –Dian FosseyGorilla is an animal of the ape family; its scientific name is Gorilla gorilla.

Gorillas are herbivorous primates and the largest living primates whose DNA is almost similar to human beings. Gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos are the closest relatives of human beings but because of humans invasion into their territories they are all under the threat of extinction: endangered.

Dian Fossey (1932-1985) was a primatologist, zoologist and anthropologist who studied about mountain gorilla groups for almost two decades, and died in Rwanda; the American is buried at Gorilla Cemetery at Karisoke Research Station.

She is the author of ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ which is adapted to the silver screen. The gorilla-lover was murdered at her cabin in the rainforest but her critics argue that she loved gorillas more than the human beings around.

Informally, gorilla refers to someone who is a heavy personality in terms of physicality such as a thug, a bodyguard. As you can make out, when someone refers to someone as a gorilla, it is not a compliment.

Guerilla is a soldier but a soldier of an irregular armed force usually fighting against the national army. Guerilla is not a member of the official army of the country but a member of the independent armed force within a country usually fighting against the official armed force. Such as the FARC in Columbia.

Guerillas specialize in surprise attacks against someone or something. Colombia has fought against a guerilla group named FARC in the country for more than 5 decades.

Note the spelling of guerilla and guerrilla (two rs and two ls).The Argentina-born Ernesto Che Guevara fought a guerilla war along with Fidel Castro for the liberation of Cuba from the dictatorial regime aided by the US. In 1966, Guevara established a guerilla bae in Bolivia to fight against the American-back regime but he was captured and shot to death in 1967.

October 8 is designated as the Day of Heroic Guerrilla in Cuba in honour of Che Guevara. Guerilla traveler is a person who travels with or without a purpose spending time on the road.

Internet businessmen and businesswomen are struggling with strategies to convert visitors to the websites as customers (paying customers) and those these they are devising ‘guerrilla marketing’ techniques (advertising strategy in an unconventional way).

Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business is written by Jay Conrad who emphasizes that websites have to convert visitors to their sites as paying customers!