That the names translated accurately describes the presence or absence of bears is a coincidence.
this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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Except it's nothing to do with that and comes from the Arctic being marked by Ursa Minor & Major in the Northern sky, and Antarctica being the opposite of that.
So there's no sky bears in Antarctica then?
We have enough with the interdimensional bears. You cant take a shit in piece in here.
Sure but it's also convenient that there are also no bears in Antarctica or as it shouldve been named Terra Australus but the Australian got that, really should've flipped the names when we had the chance.
what would be latin based names for penguins an no penguins.
Soon we can call them both Antarctica
Aww, I was annoyed but overall cheerful, then I read this and now I'm just sad.
I guess you have at least simplified my emotional spectrum, so ... Thanks?
Petition to make the names less confusing by renaming the top one to "Bear" and the bottom one to "Twink".
"Top" and "Bottom".
Are we still talking about poles?
~The answer is yes!~
I want you to know I understand the genius of this
Oh nice you talk to yourself when in public? Me toooo 😃😎
What would the equivalent be for “penguins” and “no penguins”?
Linux / Windows
There used to be a penguin like animal in the north, the Auk. Hunted to extinction.
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Chat, is this true?
The arctic isn't named after polar bears, but after the greek bear constellations which hold the north star. And the Antarctica is named after being the opposite of where the bear constellations are. It's just a coincidence that the correct one has bears and the correct one doesn't.
It's still mind blowing, even if it is a coincidence.
You’re going to name constellations after things that you know well, so the fact that there are a lot of bears relative to other megafauna in northern regions means that in a way the original idea still holds, just not quite as basic.
Some constellations, including the Great Bear, were named long before our languages even existed.
Etymology wise we might say it comes from ancient Greek, but it's also called Great Bear in languages that have no origin in Greek.
I'm going out on a limb here, but I believe the Great Bear is actually named after a great bear.
Not all cultures though. In Brazil, the Big Dipper is also known as "large anus of the snake".
Essa eu não sabia. Isso vem de alguma língua indígena?
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It's a cool coincidence, though.
I mean, come on. The region called after the constellation with the north star, which aids with finding where the north pole is, has polar bears. Nice!
kinda, not really
arctic, from ancient greek ἀρκτικός did mean "of the bear" originally, probably as a reference to the constellation (cause i don’t think the ancient greeks ever went to the arctic to confirm if there were bears or not)
antarctica doesn’t mean "no bears", it means "the opposite of the arctic"
the truth is less fun, but i guess you could still view arctic as "bear place" and antarctica as "not the bear place" and that’s still kinda funny i think
Well, it* is about the only actual predator to the human species so we make a big deal out of it.
*polar bear specifically I mean
Salt water crocodiles absolutely will hunt humans.
The hiphopopotomuses have rhymes that are dangerous.
Ha, I think I have a name for the south area where the aquatic cousins of bears live.
Austral Aqua Artic.
It has a nice ring to it.
Oh, that one is true, didn't think of them old lizards, they even study the behavioural patterns of animals on land iirc.
How come no places are called No Wolves or No Lions or No Tigers?
we made doggos out of wolves :)
but lions and tigers... guess they were harder to spot among the foliage
Have you tried with catnip?
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Idk.
They don't really prey on humans & we coexisted without much issues for humans (very much a lot of issues for them). Then that is not that hugely dissimilar with polar bears (seals are still better than humans).
Eating a baby in case of big dogs & cats every so many years doesn't really count I think, in nature it's usually disregarded even if a regular thing bcs of the size difference (and the mortality rate to adulthood). A bit along the lines that babies of all species are food & that doesn't give you much representative info.
With polar bears, even with villages in the migrating area (their ecosystem is shrinking rapidly), you just can't be outside, they will munch you.
Hikers can hike through woods with wolves, you can park your car next to lions, ... tigers would be borderline (and endangered), but it seems they fear us, they fear injury & our unpredictability generally (when forced to individuals can prey on humans, they were a few documented cases, but doesn't seem the default behaviour).
Polar bears don't back off if they need food, they can stalk you & (try to) break obstacles.
Maybe it's just that it harder to fight of a polar bear just of it's mass & power?
Also wiki/Polar_bear_jail.
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It's like when I see a place named "Westmoreland" I'm like "Ok, so someone thought, "there's more land west of where I was, and I'm not very creative".
if you dig deep enough that's what almost all place names are, and as stupid as it feels it's a great way to make fantasy place names feel not stupid.
There are a series of cities on the northeastern coast of sweden that all lie near the mouth of a long river, and those cities are quite literally named [Name of the river valley]-stream, while the rivers themselves are named [Name of the river valley]-river. It's so profoundly stupid and yet no one ever thinks about it at all.
Luleå, on Lule älv. Piteå, on Pite älv. Umeå, on Ume älv. Etc etc..
Wait until you find out about Greenland and Iceland!
Give Greenland is mostly ice I'm actually curious to know where it's name comes from
Supposedly, its and Iceland's discoverers named them thus to trick potential future conquerors into going for the wrong one.
It could be a bastardization of moorland, a type of shrubby biome similar to heath
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