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'Bug' in that context is mostly American dialect. I'm British, and 'bug' in that context is infantile; by adults, it's either a verb or a small device planted b
by david-given 10y ago
'Bug' in that context is mostly American dialect. I'm British, and 'bug' in that context is infantile; by adults, it's either a verb or a small device planted by MI5.
But the OP is right, of course. Spiders are not insects. Although I suspect that most people I'd talk to in the UK would call them such. I'll have to hand in my Pedant's Society card (which is actually made out of plastic)...
- dghughes 10y agoThen again the little grey oval Pill bug is a crustacean not an insect and not an arachnid.
- pacaro 10y agoAnd also another source of British vs. American dialect difference/confusion. In my experience, they're known in the U.K. as "woodlice", but in the US it's entirely reasonable for grown adults to refer to them as "roly-polys" The American use of "critter" also bemuses
- hnal943 10y ago"critter" is a corruption of "creature" and distinctly southern USA (to my Midwestern ears).