#entomological etymology

[crevicedwelling]

some guys idk

[crevicedwelling]

I assume the species’ common name was directly translated from its Latin name, necator, meaning “killer” or “murderer.” Latin names like “terribilis” or “atrox” or “diabolicus” are pretty common in taxonomy, thanks to all the old guys in the 1800s either getting too creative, utterly lacking originality, or being highly opinionated while describing all their bugs. but when they get translated into English common names the results are always utterly hilarious:

I think one of my favourite jumping spiders is Opisthoncus necator just because its common name is just “The Murderer” for some reason, so if I ever go to look at it on iNat, I am greeted with this very accusatory title and what is essentially its mug shot

[merridelicious]

i mix up etymology and entomology too often what if Words Were Bugs

[average-emo-enigma]

[thevividgreenmoss]

Matthew Weiner grasped at something beyond his daily-historical consciousness with Mad Men, which on one hand is part of the reason for making/sharing/experiencing art, but on the other hand the missapprehensions embedded within that consciousness play a huge part in him misapprehending his own* art as well as his role in its creation - the environment he cultivated within the writers room he administered, his documented harassment of the women he worked with, his incomprehension of the fact that Pete Campbell raped that au pair, that the wistful little etymology lesson that sets it up does nothing to obscure or negate the deeply fascistic impulse ingrained within Rachel Menken's claim that Israel "simply has to be", that the ending of his* show is not and can not be nearly as optimistic or hopeful as he-we might like to think.

The third quarter of the Clippers-Bulls just ended and I have neither patience for nor interest in American sentimentality.

Various notes of grace may play individual characters off the screen in the final episode and yes that may allow us to leave them a bit more at peace with themselves and each other than we found them in the pilot but the American society & nation to which they belong they belong is if anything far less at peace with itself in 1970 than it was in 1960 and all the way through 2024 it will continue along those same lines while also - although this part is probably a matter of lesser import to Weiner (but also likely the majority of his collaborators and audience) than things that primarily directly affect/ed real people ie American citizens whether it be the dissolution of the keynesian welfare state or the election of Donald Trump - continuing to inflict the most savage and brutal imperial horrors upon the rest of the world.

The game has ended, Clips won.

What inner peace drops a man back into the corner office from whose window he flung himself in the first place? If the fall was broken by an armchair behind the desk where he'd settle back in to launder the public image of a multinational conglomerate that steals water from indigenous people and pays mercenaries to murder those that dare to identify the theft might it not have been preferable to keep falling?

[crevicedwelling]

in my grandmother’s (very village) Taishanese, she calls land isopods “豬豬” = pig-pig (or at least that’s what I think she calls them). many cultures seem to have seen some link between isopods and pigs, it seems.

however, a more standard name for woodlice in Chinese is apparently “鼠婦”… which translates directly to “rat woman” or “rat wife.” I am not sure why this is the case.

however, since isopods are becoming popular in the Chinese-speaking world, several isopod accounts I follow on Instagram result in some beautifully mis-auto-translated captions:

I mean, they make sense based on what the isopods’ Chinese names seem to be, and many are just a direct translation of English hobby names but I still die laughing at the Lemon Weasel Women

Okay because I'm genuinely curious, what does everybody call this little guy

Put where you're from in the tags if you want! (general regions only obviously pls don't doxx yourselves)

[leafgorge]

the fact that people can’t tell the difference between entomology and etymology bugs me beyond words

[dire-straits-fn8ic]

This may be controversial but I think we should just agree to use Moth and Butterfly as interchangeable terms

[indiestsnake]

etymology fairs r really weird nowadays no one wanted to play scrabble with me and there were bugs like. everywhere. some australian guy did get his arm chewed off by a camel spider and taught me the word amputee tho so it was cool

[mi-luli]

[worms-go-here]

"locust" seems to be a colloquial term that people use to mean any number of insects; i want to see which is most popular (there's a right answer, but i'm more interested in seeing who thinks what)

respond and tag your region and answer if you want

[crevicedwelling]

so apparently these exist:

[factual-flittermouse]

Broke: Old-timey grave curses using “he” because that was the norm and expectation

Woke: Trans grave robbers intentionally triggering curses for validation because “it said “cursed be he” not “cursed be ye””

[rikonius]

Unalive

I saw the word "unalive" on a post today. And it got me thinking about the word and what it would actually mean.

We have a legit word called "undead" which is a dead person that moves and does stuff like an alive person.

"Unalive" should logically be the opposite. An alive person who lies around and can't do anything like a dead person.

So I guess unaliving means either paralyzing people, putting them in comas, or knocking them out?

[ratcandy]

people have repeatedly tagged that funny bug names post with “etymology” and it makes me giggle . ur so close. You’re almost there

[chemistfail]

Can anyone who actually knows ancient Greek confirm or deny