Man, what the fuck did the roly polys do the the Netherlands?!
They piss in our beds! grrr
“I swear, it was these bugs!”
https://thimsternisse.com/healing-magic/
Apparently they fed them to kids as a cure for wetting the bed.
Yeah fair, I’d have a bit of anger too if I’d been force-fed woodlice as a child.
i think they might have pissed in some beds
Pissebed
What’s with all these weird names for a pill bug.
It’s called a roly-poly and I will tolerate no disagreement, good day to you
They roly and they poly. No better names exist.
I would’ve been with you until I saw Grumper Pig.
I’ll accept carpet shrimp.
aww
Re: your username: Is a Replicant Batty Coda just a normal Batty Coda? He’s already a cyborg with crappy/ intermittent reception.
I had to look that up lol, I’ve never seen Fern Gully. The username is a reference to Roy Batty, the character from Blade Runner.
Ahh, gotcha. It’s a good movie. Kinda sad looking back. They played it in schools in the '90s and drilled the message in that we were already doing clear cutting of forests without “The Leveler.” This was back when they “cared about global warming, and we will have to do something about it soon.” Rather than just claiming it doesn’t exist.
Robin Williams played Batty Coda, so I remember the character fondly.
nuh-uh
Ye-ah
Roly-poly is correct, but I’ll also accept potato bug.
Potato bugs are Jerusalem crickets no?
No no Jerusalem crickets are Wavypills
This is the first time I’ve heard anyone call them anything other than a woodlouse
You must be referring to the Woodlouse Hunter which hunts… *checks notes …Granny Grunters.
I only ever called them woodlouses when I learned that name as a teenager because everyone here always called them “roly-polies” or “potato bugs.”
Roly polies does sound adorable, I’ll give you that
Do you mean the bean bug?
No, I mean a sow bug.
Their family name is Armadillidae (arm-a-dill-a-dee) which also just sounds silly
Aww, tiny armadillos!
Armadillidae
Not to be confused with Armadillidiidae.
🙃
It’s a Roly Poly btw.
Probably the cutest insect, and they do us no harm. Unshocking they have a collection of amusing names.
Apparently, they’re not actually insects, but rather crustaceans.
Crustaceans are basically ocean insects, fite me
not basically at all, they just are
That’s actually not shocking either! Nice, thanks for the info :)
Ladybugs are even cuter, but do not fare as well.
This would have made the Spanish version of A Bugs Life interesting.
… on consideration, it is the same joke.
It’s because they roll up into a cute little ball and it tickles us in a way nothing else does
Norwegian, a loved one goes by many names…
Melkedyr: Milk bugs
Benkebitere: Bench biters
Kaffetroll: Coffee trolls
Munkebiller: Monk beetles
Kaffelus: Coffee lice
Munkelus: Monk lice
Moldokser: Mold oxen
Kaffedyr: Coffee bugs
Tusselus: Goblin lice
Paddelus: Toad lice
Potetroll: Potato trolls
note to self: don’t buy coffee in Norway
Mold oxen
Because of the antennae! That’s adorable.
This is a weird question but everyone else could smell these, right? Like a weird bitter, musty smell. That post about people smelling ants a while back made me wonder what other bugs not all people smell.
They excrete ammonia through their exoskeleton because they don’t actually pee! I’ve only noticed a smell from them when they’re in large groups. They may be a bit smelly, and a lot of people mislabel them as insects, but they’re actually terrestrial isopods and are related to crabs and shrimps!
Welp, that explains why the Netherlands calls these bugs “bedpissers”
Yeah they smell like stinky wood/almonds to me.
stinky wood/almonds
Isn’t almonds also the scent reported by those genetically-equipped to smell cyanide?
Not me! Do you smell ants? I think it’s a genetic trait.
Certain ants are pretty distinct. Thatch ants spray formic acid as a defense, and will have a sour smell (and taste, or so I’ve been told). Odoriferous house ants are named so for obvious reason, and smell (to me) like pen ink. Assuming they taste terrible, but I dunno anyone who’s tasted one.
Also, for what it’s worth, my entomologist father refers to the thread’s subject as “sow bugs”, so that’s how I know them, but pill bugs and rolly polly are common here.
That’s very interesting. I can’t smell ants at all and [threads subject] smell like dirt to me (I assume because they live in dirt)
Thanks for explaining!
I’ve never noticed an ant smell, if I had to guess I’d assume it’s some different chemical I’m picking up on from the pill bugs.
I think so! I love them but I haven’t smelled them. What’s your stance on cilantro? I love genetic smell/taste traits.
I’m a soap-taster, unfortunately, but it smells really good to me! I just wish it tasted like it smelled
I don’t think it is, but I wonder if it’s related?! Neat!
I wish it tasted to you like it does to me :c I LOVE cilantro!
Doesn’t ring a bell. Earwigs have a distinct smell, though.
DOODLE BUGS!
I’m my head a doodle bug is more like a beetle with long segmented legs that kind of bobs around as it doodles along.
Yeah, we all have our own tags for critters. Went looking online for doodle bugs and most all of the links pointed to ant lions. We called those sand diggers when I was a kid.
Nice-o-pod
They’re good lil guys
Interesting. Where I live this is what we call a potato bug
We had those where I grew up to, our chickens would go absolutely bonkers when we would feed them one. One of them actually learned to come to me when I called because she knew it meant delicious bugs
Me in Australia: Now that’s a real Butchy boy.
Me in Australia: that’s a slater
Forbidden boba
I was taught they were called pill bugs. Although I knew them as also roly polys. My mother called them pill bugs, the other kids called them roly polys.
She told me it was an east coast versus west coast name and clearly is more “every group of people had decided they wanted to name this thing themselves” XD
My MIL calls them Brick Beetles…cause every time you lift a brick up there one under it. Partner was 30 before she found out that’s not their real name.
