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They're not ladies and they're not birds; they're not even technically bugs! But that's not the most surprising thing about ladybirds/ladybugs and their brilliant variety of names.
Tamsin Majerus AKA Dr Ladybird explains why ladybirds are so great; and Johanna Mayer and Elah Feder of the podcast Science Diction, about words and the science stories behind them, consider what's in a (ladybird) name.
This episode is one half of a collaboration with Science Diction, so listen to their episode It’ll Never Fly, where they set me a quiz about the outlandish and intriguing names given to fruitfly genes.
EXTRA MATERIALS:
For more about collective names for creatures, listen to my guest appearance on the fun language podcast Lexitecture.
And I covered the etymology of ‘lady’ in the hundredth episode.
Woodlice have so many names! Here are some of their British ones mapped.
I learned a lot about ladybirds from the book A Natural History of Ladybird Beetles by M.E.N. Majerus, Tamsin’s late husband.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
anaclitic
anaclitic, adjective, psychoanalysis: relating to or characterised by a strong emotional dependence on another or others. Origin 1920s: from Greek anaklitos ‘for reclining’.
CREDITS:
Tamsin Majerus is a ladybird expert at the University of Nottingham. Find her on Twitter @dr_ladybird and there’s a list of her publications here.
Science Diction is a podcast about words and the science stories behind them, made by Elah Feder and Johanna Mayer. Find it in your usual podplaces and at wnycstudios.org/podcasts/science-diction.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com, listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch, and hear more of his composition on the award-winning science podcast for kids Maddie’s Sound Explorers.
Find the show at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/allusionistshow.
The Allusionist is an independent podcast. If you’re able and inclined to support the show, head over to patreon.com/allusionist, and you’ll get a discount on tickets for the upcoming Allusionist live show, as well as all the phone alarm recordings, and the story of how for a brief period I had a flock loveliness of pet ladybirds.
