Re: CHAT of pillbugs and pilcrows (was: Greek letter names etc)

Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@...> writes:>I have a
word to add to the growing list!  I and my family have always
>calld them "woodbugs".  I'm familiar with the words "wood louse", "sow
>bug" and "pill bug" for them, in decreasing degree.  But I always say
>"wood bug"
I've heard them called "Sow bugs, Pill Bugs, or Rolly Polys, the latter is
what kids usually use. Woodlouse isn't used by anyone here, hardly (Here
is Central California). Generally Sowbug is used for the type that doesn't
roll into a ball, and Pill bug for those that do. They're interesting
creatures. One of the species seems to have a very intense shade of purple
to its shell when the shell is new. They actually have gills, which is why
they stick around moist environments.

The largest isopod (which is what all of these are) is Bathynomus
giganteus, which can reach over a foot long and is like a huge version of
the sow bug. Very very freaky to look at.


Isopods are kind of a living fossil. They haven't changed form very much
for the past 300 million years. ALl technical drawings i've seen of them
they  look like something that should be extinct.