# Simple question: Killer Whale or Orca? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2012, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124 "2012-08-30T09:17:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/1 "2012-08-30T09:17:12Z")
Which name do you call the world’s biggest species of dolphin, [Orcus Orca](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JumpingOrca.jpg)by? Orca or Killer Whale. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/2 "2012-08-30T09:27:39Z")
C. Both 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/3 "2012-08-30T09:37:55Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > C. Both 🙂 Ditto 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/4 "2012-08-30T10:12:52Z")
Your poll presumes the answer to be Orca by using “an”… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/5 "2012-08-30T11:37:35Z")
Orca. It’s not a whale at all, for one thing. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/6 "2012-08-30T11:44:03Z")
Killer whale. Orca is the name of the killer whale that kicked all that ass in the movie “Orca”. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/7 "2012-08-30T12:31:54Z")
I almost always say killer whale, even though I know it’s technically wrong (right? They’re not really whales, closer to dolphins/porpoises?) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/8 "2012-08-30T12:57:55Z")
Either/or. (ca) Funny story… I was spending an afternoon on a beach in July. I was sitting near a family – a mature woman, her two daughters, and two grandkids. The mature (physically, not emotionally or mentally) woman was sort of a Cliff Clavin. The kids were talking about how they wanted to swim with a whale shark. Grandma Cliffy kept correcting them, saying that it wasn’t called a whale shark, it was called an Orca, like in that movie with that guy from Kung Fu. The lady could run her mouth. In my mind I kept saying “shut the fuck up, you ingnant bitch!” But my telepathic powers must be a little rusty because she kept talking non-stop. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/9 "2012-08-30T13:00:16Z")
Killer Whale sounds cooler. Also, my recollection is that the term Orca wasn’t used much until the movie with Bo Derek. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/10 "2012-08-30T14:19:28Z")
Dolphins _are_ whales. Specifically, they’re a type of toothed whale like sperm whales or pilot whales or beluga whales. So there’s nothing wrong taxinomically with the name “Killer Whale” except that they aren’t as especially vicious as the name implies (unless you are a seal I suppose). Many years ago I worked at a public aquarium that contained whales (belgas and Pacific white-sided dolphins) with a Pacific Northwest theme, and it seems to me that _orca orca_ was usually referred to as “killer whale.” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/11 "2012-08-30T14:22:23Z")
Mostly killer whale, I guess, but sometimes orca. Frankly, the term rarely comes up in conversation. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/12 "2012-08-30T14:22:37Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Grandma Cliffy kept correcting them, saying that it wasn’t called a whale shark, it was called an Orca, like in that movie with that guy from Kung Fu. > > The lady could run her mouth. Some people gotta lot of nerve. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/13 "2012-08-30T14:25:30Z")
It’s an orca. But I say Killer whale. “Orca” makes you sound like a scientist which, if you’re not one, is pretentious. Of course, when I see a pod of them I mutter, “Orcses, thousands of orcses and pits, pits, pits… BAHHHH!” I do this to amuse myself. And it works. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/14 "2012-08-30T16:04:35Z")
Killer whale. But I prefer “grampus” to both. It’s a much better word, with only the slight downside that nobody has a clue what you’re talking about. Also the name of a very pleasant [pub](http://thegrampus-inn.co.uk/general/index.php). ---
**Author:** ![kyogi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/51bf81/32.png) [@kyogi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kyogi)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/15 "2012-08-30T17:03:21Z")
I prefer Orca since I learned it from the movie. Makes me feel smart. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/16 "2012-08-30T20:09:20Z")
Either one interchangeably. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/17 "2012-08-30T20:16:44Z")
It’s a goblin. Or, if really big, a hobgoblin. Yrch, for the purists. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/18 "2012-08-30T20:21:18Z")
nitpick: _Orcinus orca_, Not _Orcus_. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/19 "2012-08-30T20:35:42Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > It’s a goblin. Or, if really big, a hobgoblin. > > Yrch, for the purists. Are orcs just a larger variety of goblin, or are they something completely different? Wretched descendants of elves, yeah, but do the goblins fall into that category? ---
**Author:** ![Gd8909](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gd8909](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gd8909)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124/20 "2012-08-30T21:06:08Z")
Orca, killer whale implies some bloodthirsty edge to them (though they are the Wolves of the Sea) and… Yeah. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-killer-whale-or-orca/633124.md?page=2)