# butterfly **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985 "2001-04-05T22:23:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hippy144](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/90db22/32.png) [@Hippy144](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy144)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/1 "2001-04-05T22:23:37Z")
Okay, this is going to sound fairly stupid, but I’ve read worse on here. What is the deal with the term butterfly? Did somebody stare at one and notice how much they resemble butter? I was thinking of what I’d name them and the first thing that came to my mind was flutterflies, because (as gay as that sounds) that’s what they do, flutter, and that is the priciple in which most things are named. Is my name for them what they were originally called and some how flutter turned to butter? They bare quiet a resemblence. (ps: sorry for type-o’s, I’m doing this on the fly) ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/2 "2001-04-05T22:39:43Z")
According to [this](http://www.naba.org/qanda.html) brief Google, no-one really knows. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/3 "2001-04-05T23:15:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hippy144 \* > **. . . because (as gay as that sounds) . . .** Not clear here, Hippy, but are you saying that sounding “gay” makes it a more appropriate name, or a less appropriate one? I know there’s been a great deal of [recently compiled evidence](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/031225377X/o/qid=986511124/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/102-4548895-2285732)\* that homosexuality occurs in perhaps most animal species, but I don’t remember any specific references to _[Lepidoptera](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=lepidoptera),_ the class of [_Arthropoda_](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=Arthropoda) that includes both moths and butterflies. One might assume that if homosexuality occurs with unusually high frequency in butterflies (for which assertion I assume you’ve “flown” to find a cite), that your “gay” sounding name, flutterfly, might actually be more appropriate–if a little gratuitously [Joycean](http://www.trentu.ca/jjoyce/). If, on the other hand, it can be shown that insects of the class _Lepidoptera_ are no more likely–or even perhaps less likely–to practice homosexuality, then you seem to be suggesting that your proposed alternative colloquial term–“flutterfly”–is _not,_ in fact, appropriate. Since it is you yourself who has proposed this neologism, I can only assume that you take the former position. In which case, again, I must insist upon at least one citation from a reliable journal. I suggest searching through the annual indices of _[The Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera](http://baja.sscnet.ucla.edu/~longcore/jrl.html), [Holarctic Lepidoptera](http://www.troplep.org/hl.htm),_ or _[Playguy](http://www.playguymag.com/)._ [sup]\* The above-referenced volume ([\*Biological Exuberance](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/031225377X/o/qid=986511124/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/102-4548895-2285732)\* by Bruce Bagemihl), though unwieldy at 768 pp., is extremely informative, and as a bonus includes some _fabulous_ color photographs of masturbating monkeys.[/sup] [Edited by Chronos on 04-05-2001 at 11:10 PM] ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/4 "2001-04-05T23:44:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lissener \* > . . . monkeys.[/su **p**] Would a charitable moderator clean up my little mess for me? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy144](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/90db22/32.png) [@Hippy144](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy144)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/5 "2001-04-06T00:12:44Z")
haha. By saying gay, I mearly mean it’s prissy sounding. Around here it’s a commenly used slang word that, I hadn’t thought anyone would seriously take offence to it. It just gennerally means hetraorthadox, unconventional, or for those with a smaller vocab unaccepted by the general public. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/6 "2001-04-06T00:45:10Z")
[Word of the Day](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20010104) tackled this one a while ago. One theory is that it’s because some European butterflies really do resemble butter, but there’s no definite answer. ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/7 "2001-04-06T02:55:52Z")
completely non-factual, but I’ve always liked the fact that “lepidoptera” sounds a lot like “ **lipid** optera” which would certainly be appropriate for butterflies. Not for moths though. Back to the drawing board. ---
**Author:** ![berdollos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@berdollos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/berdollos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/8 "2001-04-06T02:58:32Z")
I once read that, in old english, they were called “flutter-by’s” ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/9 "2001-04-06T04:42:39Z")
If it isn’t an anagrammatic derogation of “flutter-by” then there remains only one other likely explanation: (_namely, mine!_) As black flys are drawn to rotting carcasses and foodstuffs, horseflies and blue bottles are drawn to manure, and as bees are “drawn” to honey, so it would seem an expectable boon granted to so lovely and benign a creature to say it was a type of “fly” that was drawn to butter. A “Butter-Fly”, quite complimentry really, when you consider how much more expensive and rarer a treat real butter was hundreds of years ago. Remember, this word is from a time when seabirds were thought to hatch from barnacles. There you have it. Occam’s razor weighs heavily in my favor. I’ve thought about this for years and finally I have a chance to rant on it. Oh joy! Although, according to my trusty and almost inpenetrable:[sup] ORIGINS “A Short Entymological Dictionary of Modern English” by: Eric Partridge 1983 Edition Greenwich House Crown Publishers New York[/sup] “Yellow-flier”, similar in color to the food, yadda yadda… ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/10 "2001-04-06T17:36:38Z")
Is book: “Who put the ‘butter’ in butterfly” by Feldman that answers this. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/11 "2001-04-06T20:34:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hippy144 \* > **haha. By saying gay, I mearly [_sic_] mean it’s prissy sounding. . . .** Well, Hippy, here again I think you’ll need to clarify or support your contention. Just looking at one [source](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=prissy), I find that in “commenly ]_sic_]” accepted usage, _prissy_ means “excessively or affectedly prim and proper.” I’m still unclear as to where your suggestion (i.e., that sexual orientation is somehow crucial to this discussion) fits in. Are you referencing the sexuality of the butterfly, as I perhaps too hastily assumed? Or are you referring obliquely to the gender of your neologism _flutterby_? In either case I remain unenlightened: you seem to deny the former in your reply, but the latter makes no more sense, since English _has_ no grammatical gender, unlike French or Spanish, e.g. > [@](#): > > \*continued \* > **. . . Around here it’s a commenly [_sic_] used slang word that, I hadn’t thought anyone would seriously take offence [_sic_] to it. . . .** If by “here” you mean, as I must assume, at the [Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/index.php) (otherwise, surely, you would have more precisely defined your terms), I must respectfully disagree. Around [_here_](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/index.php), the word _gay_ is most commonly used in the third sense given at [dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=gay): “Of, relating to, or sharing the lifestyle and concerns of the homosexual community.” > [@](#): > > \*continued \*\*\* > . . . It just gennerally **[_sic_]** means hetraorthadox, **[_sic_]** unconventional, or for those with a smaller vocab unaccepted by the general public. \*\* Well, again, I’m left with no alternative but to ask for clarification. When you say, “unaccepted by the general public,” what exactly are you describing? Your sentence leaves me in the dark on this point. Do you mean to refer to the “vocab” as “unaccepted by the general public”? As in, a “smaller vocabulary [of words that are] unaccepted by the general public” (e.g., slurs against the sexual orientation of others)? Or perhaps to the “vocab”-challenged people themselves are “unaccepted by the general public”? Reading what you’ve written, this seems to come closest to the mark; it seems to be the position of most intimate familiarity to you. Really, Hippy, you shouldn’t think of yourself in those terms. Even if you live in a place (your _“around here”_?) where people cavalierly and unthinkingly toss around offensive terms in general conversation, here at [Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/index.php), we _don’t_ do that, and we’ll accept you no matter how “hetraorthadox, [_sic_] unconventional, or . . . unaccepted by the general public” you feel yourself to be. Welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/12 "2001-04-06T23:19:01Z")
Can you guys please take it to the Pit? Hmmm…aren’t butterflies just glorified moths? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/13 "2001-04-06T23:25:59Z")
What about it? I wrote "Around here, the word gay is most commonly used in the third sense given at [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com): “Of, relating to, or sharing the lifestyle and concerns of the homosexual community.” That doesn’t in any way imply that it has no other meanings. " > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > **Can you guys please take it to the Pit? . . .** Spare me, Guin; I hardly think anything above has warmed to the point of flaming. We’re defining our terms. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/14 "2001-04-07T05:45:31Z")
lissener, gimme a break. A gentle chide would probably have sufficed in this case, since it looks like hippy is mostly harmless. But no - why use a gentle chide when you can flog a dead horse instead? And while you’re at it, what the hell does your sig mean? And why the need to display it on every post? (A minor rant, not a big deal. Just curious…) ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/15 "2001-04-07T13:14:25Z")
Lissener: I think it’s clear that the gay as Hippy meant it was synonymous with sickeningly sacharinne. This usage seems to be more a spin-off of the gay as “happy” definition, than the gay as “homosexual” definition. I suppose you think a “gay deceiver” is an unfair stereotyping as well. I’m sure you know exactly what she meant. Probably not the most careful word-choice on Hippy’s part. It’s no excuse for what you’re doing, though. **As for the Op** I always thought Butterflies got their appelation from the texture of their wings. If you find a dead one, and pick it up by the wings, you’ll get a silky almost buttery powder on your fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/16 "2001-04-07T14:56:48Z")
I mean, a butterfly could be described as gay, in that it’s bright, cheerful, and gaily colored. I’ve picked up live butterflies twice-once to rescue one from my cat’s mouth-lord knows HOW a butterfly got in the house-and once to pick one up to move it into the shade-it was sitting in the sun, very sluggish. I waited ten minutes, and it started fluttering around, and flapping around me. Coolness. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/17 "2001-04-07T15:09:00Z")
I had a friend in Mexico who had a butterfly tattooed on his shoulder. His buddies made fun of him because they said the word for butterfly, “mariposa” also is a slang word for gay (homosexual) in Spanish. The more common slang word is “maricon,” but according to these guys “mariposa” is also used. [Edited by JillGat on 04-07-2001 at 10:11 AM] ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/18 "2001-04-07T15:53:36Z")
‘Butterfly’ has a few definitions bTW, Websters: 1 : any of numerous slender-bodied diurnal insects (order Lepidoptera) with broad often brightly colored wings 2 : something that resembles or suggests a butterfly; especially : a person chiefly occupied with the pursuit of pleasure 3 : a swimming stroke executed in a prone position by moving both arms in a circular motion while kicking both legs up and down 4 plural : a feeling of hollowness or queasiness caused especially by emotional or nervous tension or anxious anticipation. butterfly SP:mariposa gay SP: alegre ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butterfly/60985/19 "2001-04-07T19:49:59Z")
Quoth **Guinistasia** : > [@](#): > > Hmmm…aren’t butterflies just glorified moths? Nope… Butterflies have knobby antennae, like -----O , while moths have feathery antennae, like --#### . Don’t ask me how I remembered this. And really, can we cool it on the choice of terms the OP used? I _think_ that **lissener** is joking, but the OP might not realize that.