Re: Arthropoda

Barry Garcia skreau:

> CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU writes:
> >I don't think grasshoppers really count as creepy-crawlies though, do
> >they?
> >Now I think about it, it's a term that does exclude certain arthropods on
> >the grounds of not being creepy enough.
> >
>
> You've never seen a Jerusalem Cricket have you? :).
>
> Jerusalem crickets are related to grasshoppers and crickets, and are
> native to California. They always freak people out who see them (small
> eyes, big bulbous head, striped round abdomen, and coarse spines at the
> tips of their legs, as well as a vicious looking set of madibles).
Mmm, point taken. I guess any term that is as implicitly judgemental as
"creepy-crawly" is bound to be subjective, and therefore applied differently
by each speaker [if at all].

They'd probably freak me out.


Mia skreau:

> James Campbell wrote:
> > someone you'd kiss :) But the ultimate would be to say that they eat
*dead*
> > spiders, since dead creepy-crawlies are even more taboo. So, to say,
>
> Does this mean that they'd definitely use a bit of paper to pick
> up a dead spider or bug around the house?
That would depend. If a Jamelt~s was genuinely repulsed by such things, then
yes, they would avoid touching them at all costs. Young males who wanted to
make themselves look big and tough would just pick them straight up,
especially if they were in the company of their peers. In private, each
would act as they saw fit, but in company any considerate individual would
use e.g. a bit of paper, so as to avoid offending others. A bit like
nose-blowing in Japan, IIRC.

>
> grasshoppers... They creep me out (as my son would say) but they
> aren't really "creepy" as such. Crickets, though, are creepy.
I guess it's really subjective, and it changes with time. As I've got older
I've become less arachnophobic, and I could normally handle smaller ones
(say, less than an inch long) now. A good friend, who has since passed away,
once pointed out to me the beautiful markings on a small spider he was
liberating from our office, and I've tended to look at them differently
since then; when I see one with intricate patterns I always think of him.
Last year I saw a tiny one that was fluorescent green - he'd've liked that.


I took a look at the Mennonite Plautdietsch site that Jim G mentioned, and
have bookmarked it for future reference. I find it fascinating that less
well-known Germanic langs like Platt and the Frisian dialects have developed
such remarkable-looking orthographies. We're used to seeing HG and Dutch and
Danish spelling, but somehow words like "Jlikjjeltijchkjeit" [indifference,
apathy, listlessness] still have the ability to surprise.

James

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james@zolid.com  James Campbell  Zeugma--Our Life Is Design  www.zolid.com
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