Re: USAGE: names for pillbug/wood louse/woodbug

Philippe Caquant wrote:

> Questions could be for ex:
> - do you think a bug is an animal ?
I'd say "yes", but I've internalized the scientific meaning of the word
"animal". Most English speakers probably think of the word "animal" as
referring mainly to four-legged beasts.

> - do you think a bug has to be an insect ?
Not when used in a generic sense. But typical bugs are insects.

> - please indicate the 5 first kind of bugs that come
> to your mind (free answer)
bed bug, stink bug, ladybug, June bug, lightning bug (the last three are
actually beetles). In scientific names, these are Cimicidae,
Pentatomidae, Coccinellidae, Melolonthinae, and Lampyridae (may not be
the most up to date names, but that's what my old copy of the Peterson
field guide has for them). "Firefly" is what I generally call the kind
of insect that's also called a "lightning bug".

> - would you call a beetle a bug ?
> - would you call a mosquito a bug ?
> - would you call a virus a bug ?
I think the sense of "bug" meaning "illness" is distinct from the sense
of "bug" meaning "a kind of insect". In that sense a virus or bacterium
could be called a "bug".

> - have you already heard somebody call a crustacea a
> bug ?
> - would you find it odd to hear a mouse be referred to
> as a bug ?
Those who think of mice as pests would refer to them as "vermin", not
"bugs".

> - do you instinctively associate the word "bug" with
> the concepts of: smallness / harmfulness /
> repulsiveness / creeping / crawling / flying / biting
> / stinking...
Fahrvergnügen :-)

I think there's a certain degree of repulsiveness associated with bugs
(actual bugs, not beetles). The Jarda word "ghagh" [GaG], later borrowed
into Tirelat as "ghax" [Gax], is not a very pleasant sounding word. In
contrast, the Jarda word for beetle "gjaz" [J\az] and the Tirelat
borrowing "dzaz" [dzaz] is a somewhat more appealing word.

> - can you imagine something like a cute bug ? like a
> useful bug ? like a big bug ?
> - etc, etc
The expression "cute as a bug" has already been mentioned. "Useful bug"
isn't a familiar expression, but a "bug" of the electronic kind (a small
hidden microphone) might be considered "useful".