Science & technology, huh? Here's some scientific trivia that's still a problem for me. Any ideas?
When I was a little kid I was a classic 4-eyed science geek. Therefore I knew that insects of the order Hemiptera were the "true bugs" & was all puffed up about it to the point that hardly a week went by that I didn't pointedly correct some other kid for using "bug" to describe one of that vast majority of insects that were not true bugs. You can imagine how well that went over. Battered 4-eyed science geek syndrome.
I knew this true bug business to be a fact because all my little science books a la All About Insects told me so in the first paragraph of any material dealing with Hemipterae. As in, "...contrary to popular belief, insects of the order Hemiptera are the only true 'bugs.' "
Later, it occurred to me to wonder why. What was it about Hemiptera that made its denizens "true" bugs? Never did find out. Still haven't.
Still later this "true vs (presumably) false bug business got even weirder when I got a 2-volume OED as a book-club giveaway. Looked up "bug." Seems that modern English "bug" meaning "bug" comes from "bug" in Old English meaning "ghost" or "spirit" & is related to such items as Boogie Man, Bog(u) in Russian meaning "God", & so forth.
Now that's really confusing. What does it all mean?
Prof
When I was a little kid I was a classic 4-eyed science geek. Therefore I knew that insects of the order Hemiptera were the "true bugs" & was all puffed up about it to the point that hardly a week went by that I didn't pointedly correct some other kid for using "bug" to describe one of that vast majority of insects that were not true bugs. You can imagine how well that went over. Battered 4-eyed science geek syndrome.
I knew this true bug business to be a fact because all my little science books a la All About Insects told me so in the first paragraph of any material dealing with Hemipterae. As in, "...contrary to popular belief, insects of the order Hemiptera are the only true 'bugs.' "
Later, it occurred to me to wonder why. What was it about Hemiptera that made its denizens "true" bugs? Never did find out. Still haven't.
Still later this "true vs (presumably) false bug business got even weirder when I got a 2-volume OED as a book-club giveaway. Looked up "bug." Seems that modern English "bug" meaning "bug" comes from "bug" in Old English meaning "ghost" or "spirit" & is related to such items as Boogie Man, Bog(u) in Russian meaning "God", & so forth.
Now that's really confusing. What does it all mean?
Prof
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