I guess enough of a deal has been made out of “nope” and “yuck!” people on social media… but just had another experience on a Facebook group where someone was hoping for butterflies and instead - yuck! - found out they were sawfly larvae. Now, I don’t know much about sawflies, but are they really t…

[image] aphili8: what other instances of language have changed a public’s attitude towards an animal? being rebranded as “orange roughy” wasn’t great for some populations of slimehead fish, and rebranding as “Chilean seabass” wasn’t great for the Patagonian toothfish either. [image] aphil…

Could the language of “attack” vs “feed” be about the host plant, too? Maybe trees are deemed more important than, say, milkweed?

Adult sawflies aren’t as showy as butterflies, and some of the bad rap probably comes from the fact that the larvae feed on trees, which potentially makes them pests in the eyes of the forestry industry. I tell my “Gardening for Wildlife” students that these larvae are great food for baby birds, so …

Related: The “Nope” Response on Social Media What animals make you cringe? What are the ugliest insects in your area?

[image] wildwestnature: Maybe trees are deemed more important than, say, milkweed? I wrote about this in the intro to a blog about a clearwing moth (aka borers). Often moths and sawflies are pests, while butterflies are celebrated. https://pollinatorweb.com/glamorous-moths-5-penstemonia/ One…

A butterfly is cute. But those caterpillars are eating my plants making them look ugly! Even the pretty butterflies have no future.

[image] egordon88: Often moths and sawflies are pests, while butterflies are celebrated. But not the cabbage white. Or, presumably, the alfalfa yellow. I think that “attack” is used when the insect feeds on a plant that humans value.

Yes, but none of those threads really talk about our use of language to influence feelings - just what gives us the creeps. I remember reading once about how phrasing helps a community accept areas set aside for wildlife - I believe they found that if they called them “wilderness areas” it had a ne…

That feeds back into discussions about dealing with appropriate water use in cities during drought, or COVID vaccinations. The scientists and doctors need to work with sociologists to find effective ways to spread the message. Which is the (winning) half of the battle to change people’s behaviour.

I only know English, and it is indeed a strange language. We refer to people as being ‘creepy’ or a ‘creep’, being sick as a dog, eating like a pig etc. Animals often get a bad rap - they infest, destroy, are invasive, toxic, slimy, disgusting. Some associations are so bad that I suspect a name chan…

Language matters

Nature Talk

vreinkymov June 14, 2022, 6:49pm 5

The “Nope” Response on Social Media
What animals make you cringe?
What are the ugliest insects in your area?

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