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

Interesting: a goat can be a "bestiole", if it's
annoying. That proves that there underlies a possible
semantic concept of "nuisance" in the concept of
"bestiole", even if it's not always the case. I think
it's about the same for "bug".

We should design a questionnary to define what the
word "bug" can refer to, according to Anglo-American
native speakers. It would include a lot of questions,
and for every question the answer could be a note from
1 to 5 for example. 1= I don't agree at all, 2 = I
agree in some cases, 3 = I rather agree, 4 = I
generally agree, 5 = I quite agree.

Questions could be for ex:
- do you think a bug is an animal ?
- do you think a bug has to be an insect ?
- please indicate the 5 first kind of bugs that come
to your mind (free answer)
- would you call a beetle a bug ?
- would you call a mosquito a bug ?
- would you call a virus 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 ?
- do you instinctively associate the word "bug" with
the concepts of: smallness / harmfulness /
repulsiveness / creeping / crawling / flying / biting
/ stinking...
- can you imagine something like a cute bug ? like a
useful bug ? like a big bug ?
- etc, etc

Then we would let the questionnnary be answered by
1000 people and compile the results. We could also
include a panel of not Anglo-American L1 speakers, to
see if there is a notable difference in their concept
of a bug.

That would be quite interesting indeed. It would be
the Great XXIst Century Inquiry about Bugs.


--- Christophe Grandsire
<christophe.grandsire@...> wrote:
>
> Be careful with the "we" in your claim here. When I
> use "bestiole"
> personally, I rarely mean "insect". I use this word
> rather for small
> mammals (mice, rats, gerbils, etc...). And I'd have
> no difficulty calling a
> goat a "bestiole", if it's an annoying one :) .
>
> Christophe Grandsire.
>

=====
Philippe Caquant

"He thought he saw a Rattlesnake / That questioned him in Greek: / He looked
again, and found it was / The Middle of Next Week. / "The one thing I regret',
he said, / "Is that it cannot speak !' " (Lewis Carroll)

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