Firefly VS Lightning Bug Deathmatch!!!!!!!

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I have a certain theory of personality based on whether a person uses the words lightning bug or firefly to describe the glowing insect. sadly, i am pretty sure it is geographically determined, but perhaps not in this day and age when we are all exposed to words outside our local dialects. what is your preference and why?

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I use both, cause they both sound super-neat. (This doesn't disprove your geographical theory: my mother is from Connecticut and my father is from Alabama.)

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Lightning Bug wins clearly.

― Dale the Titled (cprek), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

People who say "lightning bug" also say "tadppole"; people who say "firefly" also say "pollywog." Or maybe it's the other way around; I forget. (And did you know that people in Texas call dragonflies "mosquito hawks"? Is that weird, or what??)

― chuck, Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

pollywog?!!!??????WTF?

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I say lightning bug and tadpole. I always think of firefly second, even when I want to sound elegant.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I say both tadpole and pollywog, too! But that's because the swimming lessons at the Y used them for different levels.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Peter Frampton says firefly; Robert Plant says tadpole. (I forget which songs, though.) ("Show Me the Way" and "Dancing Days," maybe?)

― chuck, Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:50 (twenty-two years ago)

firefly

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 18:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Well that settles it. Teeny wins!

― Dale the Titled (cprek), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 19:06 (twenty-two years ago)

PEENIE WALLIE!

(Milwaukee and Austin, represent.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 19:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Also: "I have no word for this" ??

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)

This site is fascinating. For instance, I learned that only 2% of the population uses the term "gapers' delay" when asked: "What do you call a traffic jam caused by drivers slowing down to look at an accident or other diversion on the side of the road?" Not surprising that I use it, though, since it's chiefly a Chicago thing. Thanks, Teeny!

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 19:22 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah I love that site; I knew it would wreck a few peoples' day if I posted it! :)

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 19:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Hi, where'd that half hour just go?

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 19:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Wait, I want to know what Emily's pesonality theory is... ??

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

aunt:
I pronounce it the same as "ain't" (0.58%)

― Leee (Leee), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 21:41 (twenty-two years ago)

What do you call the game wherein the participants see who can throw a knife closest to the other person (or alternately, get a jackknife to stick into the ground or a piece of wood)?

I have never heard of this "game" and have no idea what it's called (51.32%)

The quotes make it.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 22:13 (twenty-two years ago)

What, no will-o-wisps then?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 21 August 2003 13:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha! Dem Louisvillians one'a dems places what "have no word for this". City folk ain't never seen a peenie wallie ha ha! < /cletus the slack-jawed yokel>

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 21 August 2003 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Woah. 8% of Americans put their groceries into BAYGS.

― Mark C (Mark C), Thursday, 21 August 2003 13:45 (twenty-two years ago)

so the theory is that people tend to instantly and irrationally feel passionately about this. it is a much more heated debate than tomayto/tomotto. i have found thatthose who use lightning bug tend to view those who say firefly as pretentious, while those who say firefly view those who say lightning bug as pedestrian. (not always, sensitives!) why? who cares? i guess it isn't really geographical, although i thought that would make more sense than not. anyway, i think this choice has a strangely defining characteristic.

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Thursday, 21 August 2003 14:01 (twenty-two years ago)

i am really confused by the "cot" and "caught" one. will someone please tell me how they would be pronounced differently? i have never heard that! yes, i do live in a cave.

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Thursday, 21 August 2003 14:06 (twenty-two years ago)

We in the U of K say "firefly" (exclusively?). Anything with "bug" in its name rings awkward to me.

― Mark C (Mark C), Thursday, 21 August 2003 14:09 (twenty-two years ago)

soda vs. pop brings out the blood rage in my hood.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 21 August 2003 14:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Which side are you on?!

― Dale the Titled (cprek), Thursday, 21 August 2003 15:02 (twenty-two years ago)

"caught" --> "law" and "dawn" and "bald"
"cot" --> "swat" and "knot"

that's how i see it/say it

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 21 August 2003 15:08 (twenty-two years ago)

jesus that site is too much!!

my grandmother, from South Georgia, says "my naise" and "thurz dee"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 21 August 2003 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

soda vs. pop brings out the blood rage in my hood.

You're forgetting the Southerners, who say "coke" as an all-purpose for sweet carbonated beverages. Me, I'm a Midwesterner: I say "pop."

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 21 August 2003 15:14 (twenty-two years ago)

sody pap

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 21 August 2003 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

"caught" --> "law" and "dawn" and "bald"
"cot" --> "swat" and "knot"

This could go on forever, cause I'd say about the same except -- not "bald," but "bawled," the two words being pronounced differently for me.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 21 August 2003 15:18 (twenty-two years ago)

hah in NYC the first list are pronounced as dipthongs: "loo-aw" "doo-wun" "boo-wuld"; i say it as one syllable and am looked at as if from mars

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 21 August 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

incidentally this is a phonic blind-spot for the lovely Emma B - she simply cannot hear this sound

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 21 August 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

hah in NYC the first list are pronounced as dipthongs

Ohhhh, yeah! That falls into the list of sounds I can hear in my head but can't say no matter how much I try. I'm the anti-Emma.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 21 August 2003 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Emily, your personality theory and your regionalism theory are not mutually exclusive. "Firefly" is used more commonly in the Northeast and "lightning bug" in the Midwest; perhaps these words act as symbols of how each region sees each other. (It's stereotypical for Midwesterns to view Northeasterners as pretentious bluebloods, and Northeasterns to view Midwesterners as pedestrian shlubs.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 21 August 2003 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't drink sweet drinks so you can put your soda pop coke in your ear. I'm also phonetically blind on cot/caught don/dawn and also pen/pin which sucks because I'm a professional talker.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 21 August 2003 15:56 (twenty-two years ago)

there is also this whole girl scout cookie name thing- i can't remember which, i think it is carmel delights that some people call samoas? can anyone clarify? i think gsa makes different boxes and everything.

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Thursday, 21 August 2003 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

That one's just because there are two different companies who the GSA farms the cookies out to. I forget which is which, though.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 21 August 2003 16:14 (twenty-two years ago)

but why the different names?

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Thursday, 21 August 2003 16:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Just to differentiate, I guess ... or maybe whoever makes "Tagalongs" trademarked the name, so the other guys have to make "Peanut Butter Thingies," or whatever they're called?

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 21 August 2003 16:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Tep is right.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 21 August 2003 16:25 (twenty-two years ago)

gotcha. there are cookies called tagalongs? strange.

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Thursday, 21 August 2003 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)

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