this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] Corno@lemm.ee 40 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Man, what the fuck did the roly polys do the the Netherlands?!

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They piss in our beds! grrr

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 year ago

"I swear, it was these bugs!"

[–] Robust_Mirror@aussie.zone 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

https://thimsternisse.com/healing-magic/

Apparently they fed them to kids as a cure for wetting the bed.

[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah fair, I'd have a bit of anger too if I'd been force-fed woodlice as a child.

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[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 38 points 1 year ago (4 children)

What's with all these weird names for a pill bug.

[–] ReplicantBatty@lemmy.one 79 points 1 year ago (6 children)

It's called a roly-poly and I will tolerate no disagreement, good day to you

[–] TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They roly and they poly. No better names exist.

I would've been with you until I saw Grumper Pig.

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'll accept carpet shrimp.

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[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Re: your username: Is a Replicant Batty Coda just a normal Batty Coda? He's already a cyborg with crappy/ intermittent reception.

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[–] smeg@feddit.uk 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is the first time I've heard anyone call them anything other than a woodlouse

[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 15 points 1 year ago

You must be referring to the Woodlouse Hunter which hunts... *checks notes ...Granny Grunters.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I only ever called them woodlouses when I learned that name as a teenager because everyone here always called them "roly-polies" or "potato bugs."

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[–] protist@mander.xyz 33 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Their family name is Armadillidae (arm-a-dill-a-dee) which also just sounds silly

[–] Metostopholes@midwest.social 23 points 1 year ago

Aww, tiny armadillos!

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 year ago

Armadillidae

Not to be confused with Armadillidiidae.

🙃

[–] TheEEEdiot@sh.itjust.works 29 points 1 year ago

It's a Roly Poly btw.

[–] Heavybell@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Probably the cutest insect, and they do us no harm. Unshocking they have a collection of amusing names.

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Apparently, they're not actually insects, but rather crustaceans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse

[–] ThoGot@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Crustaceans are basically ocean insects, fite me

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[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Syd@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This would have made the Spanish version of A Bugs Life interesting.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

... on consideration, it is the same joke.

[–] OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net 20 points 1 year ago

It's because they roll up into a cute little ball and it tickles us in a way nothing else does

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

This is a weird question but everyone else could smell these, right? Like a weird bitter, musty smell. That post about people smelling ants a while back made me wonder what other bugs not all people smell.

[–] Corno@lemm.ee 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They excrete ammonia through their exoskeleton because they don't actually pee! I've only noticed a smell from them when they're in large groups. They may be a bit smelly, and a lot of people mislabel them as insects, but they're actually terrestrial isopods and are related to crabs and shrimps!

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

Welp, that explains why the Netherlands calls these bugs "bedpissers"

[–] Glimpythegoblin@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah they smell like stinky wood/almonds to me.

[–] Boxscape@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 year ago

stinky wood/almonds

Isn't almonds also the scent reported by those genetically-equipped to smell cyanide?

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Not me! Do you smell ants? I think it’s a genetic trait.

[–] WhipperSnapper@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Certain ants are pretty distinct. Thatch ants spray formic acid as a defense, and will have a sour smell (and taste, or so I've been told). Odoriferous house ants are named so for obvious reason, and smell (to me) like pen ink. Assuming they taste terrible, but I dunno anyone who's tasted one.

Also, for what it's worth, my entomologist father refers to the thread's subject as "sow bugs", so that's how I know them, but pill bugs and rolly polly are common here.

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[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I’ve never noticed an ant smell, if I had to guess I’d assume it’s some different chemical I’m picking up on from the pill bugs.

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[–] Fjern@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Norwegian, a loved one goes by many names..

Melkedyr: Milk bugs

Benkebitere: Bench biters

Kaffetroll: Coffee trolls

Munkebiller: Monk beetles

Kaffelus: Coffee lice

Munkelus: Monk lice

Moldokser: Mold oxen

Kaffedyr: Coffee bugs

Tusselus: Goblin lice

Paddelus: Toad lice

Potetroll: Potato trolls

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

note to self: don't buy coffee in Norway

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

Mold oxen

Because of the antennae! That's adorable.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

They’re good lil guys

[–] Robust_Mirror@aussie.zone 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Me in Australia: Now that's a real Butchy boy.

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[–] TastyWheat@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Forbidden boba

[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I was taught they were called pill bugs. Although I knew them as also roly polys. My mother called them pill bugs, the other kids called them roly polys.

She told me it was an east coast versus west coast name and clearly is more "every group of people had decided they wanted to name this thing themselves" XD

I mean I have a pair of aquatic sowbugs I've been keeping in an empty yogurt cup. They look like regular sowbugs but they're underwater, hence aquatic sowbug.

hey Smooth Randy

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