This year’s lack of rain hasn’t had much effect on bugs as far as I can see. In fact, sharing our digs with them led to this week’s three etymological thoughts for Thursday.
- Every time someone mentions Japanese beetles, I imagine sweet little black beetles wearing itty-bitty kimonos. Unfortunately, real Japanese beetles aren’t nearly so cute.
- About a week ago, a teeny-tiny centipede greeted me when I opened the dishwasher one morning. When I opened it a few days later, a great big centipede did the same. If this pattern continues, I’m putting Ghostbusters on my speed dial.
- The drought has produced a bumper crop of grasshoppers. They remind me of the grasshoppers my little brother and I (see above picture) held during a childhood trip to Kansas with our aunt and uncle’s family. Our littlest cousin, Julie, called grasshoppers “hopgrassers.” Ever since, I have to remind myself. “They’re grasshoppers, not hopgrassers.” I also have to think twice to avoid confusing the words rubber band and Band Aids.
How about you? What words do you have to think twice about before speaking?
