The world needs to know that my niece and nephew decided that the little horn on the back-end of a hornworm (like a tomato worm, or in this case an introduced leafy spurge hawk moth caterpillar) is called a...

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@intothewestaway @not2b @sundogplanets

i am bemused to learn it!

[intothewestaway@mastodonapp.uk]

@benroyce

Danke for the response (thank you)

Bedanke for the response (I thank you)

English is so frick'n German. !

@not2b @sundogplanets

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@intothewestaway @not2b @sundogplanets

language evolution is fascinating

a favorite anecdote is we usually think of the term "shark" in "poolshark" "cardshark" etc as derived from the fish

no

the hustlers came first

the fish was named after the hustlers

we used to call them dogfish or tiburon as a loanword from spanish

but then we congealed around the concept that these fish were predators, like con men and scoundrels

and "shark" in english is from german schurke or dutch schurk: villain

[cptbutton@dice.camp]

@benroyce @intothewestaway @not2b @sundogplanets

Cardinals (the birds) are named after cardinals (the Catholic officials.) because of the males' color matching the robes.

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@cptbutton @intothewestaway @not2b @sundogplanets

holy birds! 🤭

[intothewestaway@mastodonapp.uk]

@benroyce

I am addicted to language podcasts, etc.
John McWhorter is great. (Great courses)
Rob Watts and Jess Zefarris have a great one - words unravelled (any platform for pods) Paired with writing (vs language) it blows my mind how we take for granted language.

@not2b @sundogplanets

[xinit@mastodon.coffee]

@benroyce
Isn't cardshark (and perhaps poolshark?) an evolution from "sharp" though?

@intothewestaway @not2b @sundogplanets

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@xinit @intothewestaway @not2b @sundogplanets

i have no idea

i looked it up

verdict: it's complicated

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_sharp#Etymology_and_usage

[vandorb12@infosec.exchange]

@farah @sundogplanets then you would like this Far Side https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Thagomizer.png?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=parser&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled

[lukefromdc@kolektiva.social]

@benroyce @intothewestaway @not2b @sundogplanets

Then there's "loan shark." Back in 2008, I was part of the successful campaign to cap payday lending interest at 20% or drive them from the city. They all bailed after the cap passed, now they are check cashing jounts. Car title lenders moved into the vacuum of course, there's alway another predator.

I made the Jaws-themed audio report below about the incident where DC's own Reverend Hagler threatened the manager of ACE Cash Express with a belt-whipping over those 391% APR loans they were writing:

I think we do need to rename the fish, even a Great White is only hunting to eat and cannot hold a candle to the vicious predators among our own species.

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@LukefromDC @intothewestaway @not2b @sundogplanets

excellent play

on fighting loansharks and the need to reverse the smear on the fish

[tjader@mastodonsweden.se]

@intothewestaway @benroyce @not2b @sundogplanets …behead

[secretsloth@mastodon.art]

@sundogplanets I want to draw fan art of this really badly but my dog is asleep on my arm

[secretsloth@mastodon.art]

@farah @sundogplanets me too! Why can't people have butt fangs

[beeeff@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets
Im a aciesologist.
that is actually the technical vernacular.