# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![JohnnyMac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@JohnnyMac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyMac)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/61 "2013-06-26T17:42:27Z")
Shit, I clicked “other” because I didn’t see slater. Minus 1 from “other”, add one to “slater”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/62 "2013-06-26T17:51:24Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > I call them terrestrial isopods. Yep, that’s a Isopod. I had to vote for “scientific name” but that’s not quite rigth either. When I was a kid, we called them pill-bugs. SoCal. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/63 "2013-06-26T17:58:32Z")
Roly poly or pillbug, about equally. Around here a “doodle bug” is entirely different. A [doodle bug](http://naturalistguy.com/2011/06/06/ant-lion-or-doodle-bug-diggin-in/) lives in sandy areas and creates an [inverted cone in the sand](http://emz-pineypost.blogspot.com/2012/05/doodle-bug-doodle-bug.html) so that its prey slides to an early demise. ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/64 "2013-06-26T18:01:52Z")
Long Island= Potato Bug ---
**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:** [June 26, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/65 "2013-06-26T18:43:54Z")
I call them woodlice. I mean, I’m _aware_ that they’re called isopods, but they’re woodlice to me. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/66 "2013-06-26T18:55:54Z")
Northeastern Illinois. I call them roly-polies when talking with my 7-year-old nephew who likes to hunt them in the garden (to play with). Otherwise, wood lice. ---
**Author:** ![Taters](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/taters/32/2845_2.png) [@Taters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taters)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/67 "2013-06-26T19:38:53Z")
Spent most of my growing up life in the Pacific Northwest and I called them potato bugs or roly polys. Before the PNW I lived briefly in Oklahoma, Oregon, and Germany, before moving to Washington. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/68 "2013-06-26T23:29:17Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > They’re slaters, in the West of Scotland. No idea why. That’s interesting - the garden variety are woodlice here in the south of England, but their not-so-pretty, more-leggy, more-athletic cousins at the beach are Sea Slaters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885.md?page=3)