Comments on: Ladyfingers, Ladybirds, and Woolly Bears

By: Dr. Goodword’s Language Blog » Blog Archive » In the Floor for Discussion

Wed, 13 May 2009 21:39:51 +0000

[...] But I’ll bet this is not the case in Dwaine’s idiolect. I would guess that it is simply idiomatic, in a category of oddities like the use by New Yorkers of “standing on line” rather than “in line”. Why do they do that? Probably someone of prominence, an immigré no doubt, used this expression a long time ago and, despite its going against the grain of linguistic intuition, it stuck. If so, then there is no explanation. It is there for the same unreason we call a long, fat pastry a ladyfinger and a fuzzy caterpillar a wooly bear (more on this). [...]

By: Perry Lassiter

Perry Lassiter — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:26:07 +0000

Down here in Louisiana the critter is more often called a “ladyBUG,” though the term “ladybird” is recognized.
By the way, do you have a discussion of abbreviated words such as “tho” and “thru” anywhere. Their use seems to be more common with email and IM’s.

By: rbeard

rbeard — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:13:37 +0000

Bob, regarding LBJ’s wife: the story I’ve always heard was that her nickname came from a nursemaid who said she was as pretty as a little ladybird, and the name stuck. The matching initials, then, were a coincidence when they married, and the daughters’–and beagles’–names were chosen to perpetuate the pattern. I don’t know what he did about his mistress. s

Sue Gold, Director of Communications
Westtown School

By: Brian Johnson

Brian Johnson — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 06:49:32 +0000

Dear Dr. Goodward,

I cannot believe that Mrs. Johnson did not know when Lyndon applied the sobriquet “Ladybird” on her that she was unaware of the children’s verse
Ladybird ladybird
Fly away home
Your house is on fire
and your children will burn

To be repeated as the captured ladybird is blown back into the air from the palm of the hand.