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Bird, hen, bug or little cow?
Feb. 29th, 2016 10:44 pmIn 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.
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.
