Bird, hen, bug or little cow?

[topum]

In Moldova a guy in a Ukrainian village told us that they called ladybirds 'God's little cows' in Russian. He had no idea why. We told him that they were called 'mariehøne' in Danish, which meant 'Mary hen' (Mary being Virgin Mary) and ladybird in UK English while in the US they called them ladybugs.

He asked us why they were called ladybirds in Britain and we told him the story about Our Lady, her red cloak and her seven joys and seven sorrows as the spots.

He told us that they called it 'God's little cow' in a number of other Slavic languages too, including Czech I think. He thought it was interesting that it was God's either directly or via Virgin Mary in all these languages. He then scored the four nations on how spot on they were in naming the little creature. It went like this:

Fourth place - Denmark with maryhen, which got 0 out of 2, because the thing is neither a Mary nor a hen.

Third place - UK with ladybird, which got 0.5 out of 2 because although the thing is not a bird, around half of them are probably ladies.

Second place - US with ladybug, which got 1.5 out of 2, the thing is a bug and, again around half of them are probably ladies.

First place - Russia with God's little cow, which got 2 out of 3, the thing is God's, it is little but it is definitely not a cow.

We went "Hold on!" We thought that at the very least his ranking of US vs Russia was debatable because American 1.5 out of 2 is 75% success rate and Russia's 2 out of 3 is only 67%. He rolled his eyes and said "Of course! Another dispute between the US and Russia. Even here." We laughed and then a Moldovan guy came over and told us that they called the creature "buburuza" in Romanian, which meant nothing but this insect. "Moldova won!" we all shouted at him. "Well, that would be a first" he responded.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

The guy is funny!

[topum.livejournal.com]

He was!

[found-world.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that about ladybirds. I've mostly heard of them as ladybugs in the U.S., although I'd heard of them as the other term. I must never have bothered investigating their name. Thank you for the information.

[topum.livejournal.com]

They are also called coccinellidae I think.

[prorsus.livejournal.com]

Both in Russia and some other Slavic countries like Slovakia they also have a kids rhyme starting with "Ladybird, ladybird where is your mummy?".

[topum.livejournal.com]

Mummy meaning mother, right?

[prorsus.livejournal.com]

Of course! Would be a very dark kids rhyme otherwise :).

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

In the UK they say:

Ladybird, ladybird,
Fly away home,
Your house is on fire
And your children all gone;
All except one
And that's little Ann,
And she has crept under
The warming pan.

[prorsus.livejournal.com]

Interesting. 'Your children all gone' means "gone out of the house" in this context? Because as far as I know it could also mean 'dead', which would make for a pretty dark kids rhyme.

The Slavic one goes:

Ladibyrd, where is your mummy?
Fly into the sky
Your children are there
They will give you sweets.

Interestingly also about ladybird's kids. Perhaps because they are kids rhymes.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I always assumed (but perhaps it says more about me) that the children were dead.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That's a lovely anecdote.

[topum.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting.

[topum.livejournal.com]

I also thought so.

[sunblue-sky.livejournal.com]

LOL Very useful information, I’m glad you took the time to clarify this important matter :)

[topum.livejournal.com]

Haha, yes I get hung up on tiny and most useless details very often.

Ladybug

[sunblue-sky.livejournal.com]

Lady Bugs like windows and lighthouses for some strange reason; I once saw tens of thousands of them all around a lighthouse before. So why is your Avatar upside down? Oh wait a minute, I get it! Your Avatar is not upside down, it’s the website that’s upside down… This would mean that you’re the only one that is right side up lol :)

So what planet do you hail from? Is it one that’s in our Milky Way Galaxy, or some other? Don’t you feel a little out of place in this strange new universe you have found yourself in? lol :)

I put up some Ladybug photos to go with your research study lol :)

Re: Ladybug

[topum.livejournal.com]

Yes, I am in outer space. There is no up or down here and therefore there is no upside down. )
Ladybugs gather together to hibernate through the winter and sometimes they choose to do so inside a building and then you can see many of them around the building they chose. I will check out the pictures in your journal ).