Denyse O’Leary at Mindful Hack has asked a good question:
ape
brute
oaf
not just an oaf
not quite an oaf
somewhat less oafish
[ ... ]
a bit less oafish than when last noticed
many oafish characteristics have been lost
not nearly the oaf he used to be
[ ... ... ... ] (and finally!)
if we have him over for dinner, we can seat him at the table instead of tying him in the yard with a bowl of water and a biscuit
This isn’t how we went from the apes to the cave paintings of Lascaux or Altamira.
