# What do you call this insect? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885 "2013-06-25T16:59:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/41 "2013-06-26T01:22:58Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > In California, a common nickname for the insect is ‘potato bug’, originating from the idea that the bug could grow much larger and eat a potato whole. > > Huh, so that’s where the name comes from. I thought it was from being brown and squishy looking. There are some that can get [pretty](http://www.warrenphotographic.co.uk/photography/bigs/01681-Giant-Pill-Millipede-on-hand.jpg) [damn](http://s17.photobucket.com/user/sezzy5889/media/9c607a8d.jpg.html) [big](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3195/5847321016_44fbed566d_z.jpg). Then of course there are the [giant](http://jacksci.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/giant-isopod.png) [isopods](http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1365/969959414_793ac555ef_b.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/42 "2013-06-26T01:27:12Z")
I mostly called them potato (tater) bugs when I was a kid, or roll-up bugs. I spent many happy hours playing with them, and to this day, will go out of my way to keep from hurting them/ ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/43 "2013-06-26T01:28:11Z")
When I was a kid, we called them ‘potato bugs’. Then I found out what a potato bug actually looked like, and started calling them ‘pill bugs’. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/44 "2013-06-26T01:33:56Z")
I grew up (in the Southwest) calling them “roly-polies”, but adults around me always called them “pill bugs”. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/45 "2013-06-26T01:45:54Z")
I voted for roly-poly, with pill bug and sow bug as runners up. I wonder what fluke of evolution makes them tip over so easily. Is it because their ancestors didn’t have to walk on sidewalks or smooth surfaces? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/46 "2013-06-26T02:35:28Z")
They were always **slaters** when I was a kid, in New Zealand (we even studied them in science class, and that’s what the teacher called them). I now call them woodlice, as it seems to be more generically understood what I’m referring to. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/47 "2013-06-26T02:53:08Z")
I just polled four twenty-somethings, three of whom grew up in the southwest and one who grew up in Michigan, and the consensus is that it’s a roly-poly, although they’ve heard it called a pill bug. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/48 "2013-06-26T02:59:38Z")
Hmm, I seem to be the only one who calls them wood bugs. I’m from Vancouver Island, I wonder if it’s a regional thing. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/49 "2013-06-26T03:03:25Z")
Used to call them rollie-pollies or bowling ball bugs. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/50 "2013-06-26T04:21:11Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > I wonder if it’s a regional thing. If there’s one thing this poll proves, it’s that it’s clearly a regional thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Ricky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/48db29/32.png) [@Ensign\_Ricky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Ricky)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/51 "2013-06-26T05:02:11Z")
I’m with **FloatyGimpy**. That’s a wood bug where I come from. The Okanagan Valley in BC, in case you were wondering. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/52 "2013-06-26T05:12:41Z")
Where I grew up – New York – it’s a “pillbug” (I always thought it was one word, but it’s two in the OP). Here in Kansas, it’s a “roly-poly.” ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/53 "2013-06-26T08:42:24Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > There are some that can get [pretty](http://www.warrenphotographic.co.uk/photography/bigs/01681-Giant-Pill-Millipede-on-hand.jpg) [damn](http://s17.photobucket.com/user/sezzy5889/media/9c607a8d.jpg.html) [big](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3195/5847321016_44fbed566d_z.jpg). > > Then of course there are the [giant](http://jacksci.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/giant-isopod.png) [isopods](http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1365/969959414_793ac555ef_b.jpg). .. [Cymothoa exigua](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua). You’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/54 "2013-06-26T09:04:21Z")
Called 'em rolly-pollies as a kid. I refer to them as woodlouse now. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/55 "2013-06-26T11:07:32Z")
In England we call it a woodlouse, we do have the pill-bug millipede things here but they seem to be rare. Woodlice are _everywhere_. And FWIW, round here “Roly-Poly” is a type of pudding. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2013, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/56 "2013-06-26T11:14:05Z")
Northeast Ohio, with Pennsylvania Appalachian roots. We mostly call them potato bugs, or occasionally pill bugs. Most of those other names will get you a blank stare. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/57 "2013-06-26T12:14:58Z")
Carpenter, pill-bug, or woodlouse, depending on my mood, who I’m talking to, and what, specifically I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/58 "2013-06-26T12:40:50Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > .. > > [Cymothoa exigua](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua). You’re welcome. Yeah, the tongue thing. I am familiar. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/59 "2013-06-26T13:01:30Z")
My family moved from Pennsylvania to New York during my first grade year. I remember that in PA we’d called them something that currently eludes me and I was reeducated on the playground of No.2 school to call them roly-polies. Some time later (perhaps even second grade) a tall, dark, and handsome nerd boy told me “that’s an isopod.” I’m in Maryland now and I can’t remember the last time I saw one in person. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/60 "2013-06-26T17:30:43Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Yeah, the tongue thing. I am familiar. Does it make talking hard? Or are you One? Sorry for quoting the whole thing, stupid devices. > [@gwendee](#): > > Some time later (perhaps even second grade) a tall, dark, and handsome nerd boy told me “that’s an isopod.” Future grammarian. A bit like pointing at a human and saying, “that’s a primate.” Yes, but… Plus, I honestly always found pill bugs to cute little… buggers. Isopod makes me think of the above linked, and makes me never want to go anywhere near the sea. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885.md?page=4)