On Mon, 26 Apr 1999, Alan Halsey wrote:
> Somewhere I read that woodlice have more vernacular names than any other
> creature; a curious fact if true but it wasn't backed up with examples.
> My grandmother called them 'grampha-gravies' or just 'gramphas' [sp.?]
> which has some resemblance to the wonderful 'grammarsow' used by
> W.S.Graham. Cornish or Scottish in either case? Other names, anyone?
I can offer only "peabug" (Kent) "wood'us" (Yorkshire; turns out to be a
contraction, rather than "woodwose" as I'd hoped at first) and
"pig-of-the-woods" (a literal translation from the Welsh; from a colleague
from South Wales). I'd've thought ladybirds would be better contenders for
multiple namings, but I'm ready to be convinced.
RC
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