# What does a 5-year-old paleontologist call a squidmesisah?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 22, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500 "2011-06-22T23:26:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/21 "2011-06-23T23:02:57Z")

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> [@Johanna](#):
>
> Taking these two quotes together, I think belemnite is the likely answer. It was squid-like. It was Mesozoic. It could well have been explained as “kind of like a squid, from the Mesozoic.”

They don’t seem to have spines, though. OTOH, neither does Michelinoceras.

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**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/22 "2011-06-24T00:59:46Z")

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Did he specifically say it was something ancient/extinct? Maybe it was some kind of sea anemone or something.

Could you also clarify how he pronounced the “mesisah” / “mezzizah” part – which syllables were accented and how the vowels were pronounced, I mean?

That is, if you haven’t already found out, of course.

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**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/23 "2011-06-24T02:13:22Z")

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> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> They don’t seem to have spines, though. OTOH, neither does Michelinoceras.

No, but on The Dinosaur Train show, which (if the littlest Magills are any indication) is a pretty popular show among the three to five year old set, michelinoceras do a sort-of water dance number for the Pteranodon family which may look like they have spines. If I remember tomorrow morning, I’ll ask Spike if he remembers whether michelinoceras has spikes.

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