Source: https://xkcd.com/2372/
This xkcd is so good!
Rolly Pollies
Is that a woodlouse?
Yep
Americans call them pillbugs or something like that
I only know “roly poly” that’s the grade a American word for these lil guys.
I found out that they’re called “bed pissers” in the Netherlands and now I only call them that
Little pissybedders
Pill bugs here on the West Coast but in the Midwest we called them roly poly.
I work in pest control and they’re generally referred to as pill bugs in the industry.
Pillbugs here in the Midwest.
West coast- my friends all called them pill bugs, but we called them sow bugs.
Sow bugs def a common one
For some unknown reason, these are known as a “cheese log” in parts of the UK
We didn’t have a single term around here.
Most common was punkin bug, or pumpkin bug for you damn yankees.
But, roly-poly, tomato bug, and pill bug were all in common usage.
What’s interesting to me is that they were also called doodle bugs, despite a completely different bug also being called that. Doodle bug is also used for ant lions around here; indeed, that’s what they’re called almost exclusively.
They were both called that for the same reason, the little doodly tracks they leave in fine sand and soil, though if a punkin bug is on that, they’re going elsewhere because they don’t really like those conditions.
I’m also from the south, and pumpkin bugs and tomato bugs are totally different things. Pumpkin bugs aka squash bugs are Anasa tristis, and tomato bugs are Engytatus modestus. I’ve never once heard anyone call roly polys pumpkin or tomato bugs
All I can say is that people be trippin. When I have asked people why they call them that, the usual is “I dunno, I guess they look like pumpkins, that’s just what my family called them, so I do too”.
I suspect that it comes down to nobody really remembering why a bug is called its colloquial name, nor bothering to ask or explain, and after while, the mistake becomes the norm. Kids mislabel stuff a lot, and spread things faster than they do germs. Easy for weird things to slip in.
Like how people call crane flies “mosquito hawks” but crane flies don’t even have mouths as adults and don’t eat mosquitoes. People don’t realize you can call a crane fly a gollywhopper and be more accurate.
Rollie Poly
Roly Poly
holy moly a rolly poly!
Rolly poly in my guacamole!
oh man, rolly pollie in my aioli ravioli!
it’s rolly Polly, homie
Horror story! Little me heard that they breathe through gills and thinking they would be OK, I filled a soap bubble bottle with water and stuffed 'em in there. When I checked the next day they had disintegrated, nothing by tiny pieces left. I was horrified.
Lol. When I was 4 my pet parakeet died and my parents told me they buried it. My thinking was it probably died because they buried it so I dug it up and put it back in its cage. My Mom was horrified.
I don’t see potato bug yet
?
Also grew up calling them potato bugs, northeast US?
Pacific Northwest for me! Potato bugs forever!
PNW unite!
Not a bug technically, an isopod.
People pay stupid money for rubber duckies:
If I had cash, I’d want a giant one:
I always called them Rollie pollies. My brother in laws earliest memory of me is me explaining how good they were to eat.
You’d want a giant one?
Giant isopods are found in the deep ocean, typically dwelling on the ocean floor up to 7,000 feet deep in regions like the Indo-Pacific and western Atlantic oceans.
Would they survive on sea level?
No
I assumed as much. So bro would have to have a pressurised chamber that’s also dark, so even if it was see-through, there’d really be no use.
Maintaining the tank would also be a bitch probably. Feeding, cleaning, etc. Feeding not so much but…
Anyway, doesn’t seem like the optimal solution as a pet or design choice, unless you’re like a billionaire, in which case you can do whatever the fuck you want (until we find another Luigi)
My ex collects this things. Apparently there a market for raising and selling them.
We keep some little orange isos in our reptile tanks to help with keeping the tank clean. I feel weird paying for fancy “potato bugs” but they apparently help, so here I am.
Springtails and isopods are good “clean up” crews. Usually reptiles, but you can also do cool bioactive set ups for rats.
Springtails are also not bugs and are hella under appreciated. They are absolutely adorable under a microscope, but you just can’t find great pictures online.
Not a bug technically, an isopod.
It’s not like “bug” is a technical term in the first place. Why not “bug”? It looks buggy to me.
It is. Insects in the order Hemiptera are “true bugs.” Pokey mouth parts for piercing and sucking and something special about the wings, I forget what.
Oh, well TIL, my bad
You can go up to “insecta” for “bugs” in general.
If you wanted to be nit picky/old school you could exclude all non-heteropterans from “true bugs.”
What the fuck
Snacks!
Found you, Timon & Pumba.
Tomato bugs.
Slater.
Doodle bugs
My three year old calls them “ah-peel”
American from the Midwest here. We alternated between pillbug and roly poly.
use to call these
use
Well, my voice, if I ever tried. I think a whistle would just be pointless. Do they even have ears? Can you call something without ears, no matter what you use? #l2s
