# What the heck is the real name for roly poly's? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019 "2005-09-29T14:25:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/21 "2005-09-29T17:49:53Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > The names for this animal vary by region, mostly. See this survey [“What do you call the little gray creature (that looks like an insect but is actually a crustacean) that rolls up into a ball when you touch it?”](http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_74.html) Note that the most common name (at 33.07%) is “roly poly.” Thanks for the link. It is good to know that I was not alone in calling it a potato bug (12.9%) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/22 "2005-09-29T18:55:09Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Thanks for the link. It is good to know that I was not alone in calling it a potato bug (12.9%) The top 5 in the rankings: roly poly (33.07%) pill bug (15.91%) I have no idea what this creature is (13.21%) potato bug (12.95%) I know what this creature is, but have no word for it (9.44%) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/23 "2005-09-29T19:16:08Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Some marine relatives get a lot larger, like this [Giant Deep-Sea Isopod](http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02mexico/logs/oct13/media/isopod.html) We’re in this for the species, boys and girls. It’s simple numbers. They have more. And every day I have to make decisions that make hundreds of you scoot back from the computer monitor making the oogie-boogie “_EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE_” noise. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/24 "2005-09-29T19:17:47Z")
[We call it a ‘Pissebed’ [piss in bed. I have no idea why]](http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pissebed) ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/25 "2005-09-29T19:18:18Z")
> [@lorinada](#): > > Really? I’ve never in my life heard the term “doodlebug” until your post. I grew up in Texas. Antlions (they make a little cone in very soft dirt or sand) were always called doodlebugs and what some people call “roly polies” were always pillbugs. ---
**Author:** ![Emony\_Dax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Emony\_Dax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emony_Dax)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/26 "2005-09-29T20:21:18Z")
Yep, we called 'em doodle bugs growing up in South Texas. What are those bugs that dig holes in sand, creating kind of a crater that other bugs fall into? There were lots of those when I was little, too, but we have clay where we live now instead of sand, so I haven’t seen one in a long while. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/27 "2005-09-29T20:45:57Z")
My family calls them army bugs. But then, we’re insane, so can’t really be used as a representative sample for anything. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/28 "2005-09-29T22:21:43Z")
> [@Schuyler](#): > > I’ve got to say, the first thing that came to mind was, “Now there’s a roly poly you can sink your teeth into.” I wonder how it would be stir-fried in butter? I was torn between wanting to eat one and worrying if it would try to clamp onto my face. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/29 "2005-09-29T23:00:25Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Some marine relatives get a lot larger, like this [Giant Deep-Sea Isopod](http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02mexico/logs/oct13/media/isopod.html) > [@The Above Link](#): > > This specimen is a male. Hey, you can see the… no, wait, that’s a leg. Or, could that one… Nope. Leg. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![bigdfrombigd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df705f/32.png) [@bigdfrombigd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigdfrombigd)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/30 "2005-09-30T01:57:34Z")
> [@lorinada](#): > > Really? I’ve never in my life heard the term “doodlebug” until your post. I was just gonna’ say doodle bug and I grew up in San Antonio! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/31 "2005-09-30T02:07:12Z")
> [@Emony Dax](#): > > Yep, we called 'em doodle bugs growing up in South Texas. > > What are those bugs that dig holes in sand, creating kind of a crater that other bugs fall into? There were lots of those when I was little, too, but we have clay where we live now instead of sand, so I haven’t seen one in a long while. Those are [antlions](http://www.antlionpit.com/antlions.html), which is the insect that is most commonly called “doodlebug.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/32 "2005-09-30T02:14:56Z")
> [@Schuyler](#): > > I’ve got to say, the first thing that came to mind was, “Now there’s a roly poly you can sink your teeth into.” I wonder how it would be stir-fried in butter? Being that isopods are crustaceans, pillbug scampi might be worth a try if you had enough of them. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2005, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/33 "2005-09-30T07:36:29Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Being that isopods are crustaceans, pillbug scampi might be worth a try if you had enough of them. [Woodlouse Recipes](http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=recipe+woodlice+OR+woodlouse&btnG=Google+Search&meta=) (and before you ask, no, I have not yet tried eating woodlice - I’m saving that experience for when I get stranded, far away from all other sources of food) ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/34 "2005-09-30T12:26:45Z")
I had a friend who told us about shooting [woodchucks](http://www.borealforest.org/zoo/groundhog.htm) in his basement with a BB gun. He and his brothers would move items to find the woodchucks and then blast them with the BB gun. We were incredulous. You have woodchucks living in your basement? A lot of them? Don’t they get mad? He then described the ‘woodchucks’. The little bugs that roll into a ball when you touch them. Ohhhh, potato bugs. (although I think at least one person called it a pill bug…I don’t recall as this was 20 years ago). ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/35 "2005-09-30T12:50:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Those are [antlions](http://www.antlionpit.com/antlions.html), which is the insect that is most commonly called “doodlebug.” And is it just me, or does that look a LOT like the bug that Kahn put in Chechov’s ear? ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/36 "2005-09-30T13:02:50Z")
[the google ad suggests ‘Chocolate covered cricket’. Yum.] While on the subject of insects… I sometimes have either some ‘firebrats’ OR some ‘silverfishes’ in my bedroom. One likes hot temperatures, the other one hates it. But they could be twins. How do I find out which is which? My bedroom is sometimes warm, sometimes damp… And who named insects? Why would you call a perfectly innocent creature a ‘pissebed’, or another one a ‘earcrawler’ [earwig]? Why has a ‘ladybug’ such a nice name? [It’s even nicer in Dutch, it’s called ‘Our Dear Lord’s little animal’. [Onzelieveheer’s beestje] ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Violaceous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Miss\_Violaceous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Violaceous)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/37 "2005-09-30T13:14:03Z")
True story from my childhood… When I was very small (fourish?) I asked my mother this very same question. She didn’t know. But her father Knew All, so we put some “pill bugs” in a manilla envelope and mailed them to my grandfather, with a note, “what do you call these bugs?” His reply? “Looks like a bunch of dead bugs.” ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/38 "2005-09-30T13:24:51Z")
> [@gum](#): > > [earwig]? > > Why has a ‘ladybug’ such a nice name? [It’s even nicer in Dutch, it’s called > ‘Our Dear Lord’s little animal’. [Onzelieveheer’s beestje] “Earwig” in English comes from “arse-wiggle”, more or less, describing the way it walks. Or not. “Ladybug” in English is “ladybird”, except in Norwich where it’s a “bishy barnaby”. Why Bishop Barnabas (or Barnaby, even) I have no idea. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/39 "2005-09-30T15:53:45Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > [Woodlouse Recipes](http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=recipe+woodlice+OR+woodlouse&btnG=Google+Search&meta=) > (and before you ask, no, I have not yet tried eating woodlice - I’m saving that experience for when I get stranded, far away from all other sources of food) Thanks, I thought I had seen a recipe somewhere. I googled on “pillbug recipes” and didn’t get anything. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/40 "2005-09-30T17:23:15Z")
Wouldn’t the exoskeletons of the pillbugs give the food an awful texture? Those recipes interest me, but I don’t like the idea of eating exoskeletons. I’ve gotten small pieces of crawfish exoskeletons in my mouth and it bugs the hell out of me. By the way, pillbugs are usually called roly polies here in northeast Texas and ant lions are called doodle bugs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019.md?page=3)