Jungle or Rainforest?

Jungle or Rainforest?

Which is the correct term, jungle or rainforest?

There's no doubt the original expression was jungle. However the term rainforest has somehow become the primary term. So is there a difference?

Technically to be a rainforest requires over 80 inches of
rainwater per year. Less than that and it's just a forest,
though some slide in via being mangrove swamps or
simply at such high altitude that they literally sit inside
rainclouds.

In contrast jungle simply refers to anything with very thick
vegetation. However the 2 terms have become inter
changable for the most part. Further, the term "rainforest"
should really be referred to in it's full-length term which is
actually "tropical rain forest". So is there such a thing as a
non tropical rainforest? Not really, no, as all the world's
rainforests follow a broad band around the equator, meaning
they are all tropical, which is probaly why the term has become shortened to just "rainforest".

Rainforest is Politically Correct

Another element involved in the naming convention seems to be political correctness!

The term "jungle" has some slightly negative under-tones, suggesting a place of cruelty, with nature 'red in tooth and claw', a place of disorganized chaos, danger, disease and totally uncivil. Indeed the term is often used to describe such horrors as the careers market ("it's a jungle out there") or anything that seems an impenetrabable mess.

It gets worse of course when referring to people who actually live there. To refer to a population as "jungle people" would probably be considered racist and insulting, yet "people of the rainforest" strikes a far more noble and appreciative note.

Regardless of what we choose to call them, or the people who make them their home, it's good to see that the world is indeed more appreciative of these precious lands and their diverse biology. To people of my own generation such places will tend to be "jungles" in our hearts but we love them anyway, even if you youngsters do insist on calling a perfectly good jungle a "rainforest"!