Happy Thought for 19 May 2023

Have a Happy Thought: 


Animal names are fun, even if they don’t even always make sense in English.

Like butterflies fly, but they’re not made of butter.

Or starfish. Not fish. They are vaguely star-shaped, though.

Here’s a bearcat. Not a bear. Not a cat.

Picture of a Binturong in a tree. Black vaguely-cat-shaped creature.
 Image from https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-most-misleading-animal-names-ever.html

 

King Cobra – not actually a cobra. Also, there is no evidence they follow any sort of monarchy.

So you see the problem we have in English.

German, meanwhile… well, Germans made it simpler.

There’s a flow chart.

You’re welcome.


A flowchart explaining German names for all of the following: pig, guinea pig, porcupine, capybara, raccoon, dugong, porpoise, turkey, tortoise, slug, armadillo, skunk, sloth, squid, bat, and platypus.

 

If this link still works, this is where I found this wonderful flow chart!

https://twitter.com/TeaDrivenDev/status/1432748394200580096?s=03

 

Find more oddly-named animals (in English) here: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-most-misleading-animal-names-ever.html

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