Reply to: Daddy Longlegs

[MarillionFan]

So I have no discovered a problem to my office set up.

Door open, lights off, touch screen, daddy longlegs!!!!

Stop flying into the bloody touch screen!!!!!!!!!!

[NickFitz]

Also known as "father-long-legs" and "Harry-long-legs" according to The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, a Work of Universal Reference in all Departments of Knowledge with a new Atlas of the World vol. II p. 1440 (1896).

Furthermore, some random Scottish person calls them "Jenny long-legs".

[OwlHoot]

That makes sense. The wrestler "Big Daddy" (or "Bug Dudey") is named to remind punters of their recently lost departed ones - although he used to fight all year round? And "who is the daddy (or dudey)" is a plaintiff cry to lost relatives. All very sad really. Not sure what the "big" stands for.

Funny guy.

Try reading The Golden Bough by Sir J G Frazer, and not the wimp's abridged edition, but the full 12 volumes, with footnotes, and footnotes to footnotes ..

Then you'll understand

(I haven't read much of it myself BTW)

[FiveTimes]

Recently in Britain we have enjoyed long warm summers and warmer than average winters. These mild winters have resulted in an explosion in the population of crane fly, or daddy longlegs, as they are more commonly known. They will very often be seen flying around the gardens in late September time. These flies lay their eggs in grassed areas – usually lawns. Then over the winter and spring period, the eggs hatch and the resultant larvae, called leatherjackets, feed off the roots and young shoots of the lawn. This can have a devastating effect on a lawn. Normally, a prolonged hard frost will control the number of these lawn pests, but recent mild winters have caused their number to increase dramatically.

[TimberWolf]

Was thinking about this, among other things, on the way home.

Most primitive societies believe their ancestors live on, in spirit form, and even return now and then in disguised form.

Usually they reckoned the dead return in autum, as the nights draw in, hence the timing of festivals such as Samhain and Halloween. By coincidence, that is also about the time when daddy longlegs suddenly appear in large numbers.

So to a superstitious pagan, if hordes of skeletal insects suddenly turn up in your face (often literally), making loud buzzing noises, and at the right time of year, then they must be the spirits of the ancestors making an appearance. Stands to reason, I mean who else could it be?

Hence, possibly, the strange name "Daddy" or (if you are Romanian) "dudey" long legs - A hangover from some folklore, maybe many thousands of years old and long predating Christianity, that they really were one's "fathers".

Well it's a theory anyway.

That makes sense. The wrestler "Big Daddy" (or "Bug Dudey") is named to remind punters of their recently lost departed ones - although he used to fight all year round? And "who is the daddy (or dudey)" is a plaintiff cry to lost relatives. All very sad really. Not sure what the "big" stands for.

[OwlHoot]

I think the name "Daddy" may come from Romany or gypsy slang. Digging around, I found the Latin for Crane fly is "tipula", from where the French "tipule" comes, and in Romanian the word tipule means "dude".

Was thinking about this, among other things, on the way home.

Most primitive societies believe their ancestors live on, in spirit form, and even return now and then in disguised form.

Usually they reckoned the dead return in autum, as the nights draw in, hence the timing of festivals such as Samhain and Halloween. By coincidence, that is also about the time when daddy longlegs suddenly appear in large numbers.

So to a superstitious pagan, if hordes of skeletal insects suddenly turn up in your face (often literally), making loud buzzing noises, and at the right time of year, then they must be the spirits of the ancestors making an appearance. Stands to reason, I mean who else could it be?

Hence, possibly, the strange name "Daddy" or (if you are Romanian) "dudey" long legs - A hangover from some folklore, maybe many thousands of years old and long predating Christianity, that they really were one's "fathers".

Well it's a theory anyway.

[OwlHoot]

I think the name "Daddy" may come from Romany or gypsy slang. Digging around, I found the Latin for Crane fly is "tipula", from where the French "tipule" comes, and in Romanian the word tipule means "dude".

[MarillionFan]

I thought outside of the box and used Bing:

WikiAnswers - How did daddy long legs get their name

Although that refers to the american flavour Daddy Longlegs

Good game, Good game.

Thats the closest we have to an answer. Still not great but worth a Brucie Bonus.

Thanks all, you're so much better than last weeks posters.

Didn't he do well!

[NickFitz]

The OED gets a bit recursive:

crane fly

• noun a slender two-winged fly with very long legs; a daddy-long-legs.

daddy-long-legs

• noun Brit. informal a crane fly.

[Zippy]

At least two related groups appear to be called "daddy long-legs":

Only one kind could have been "buzzing" aound MF's office though?
Naw feck it - have the Brucie Bonus. I know you want it

[TimberWolf]

Why is a Daddy Longlegs called a Daddy Longlegs?

Massive one buzzing around the office. Then wondered where the name came from.

Googling I havent found anything yet?!!!

Brucie Bonus for the first one to find the accepted meaning!

Etymology of entomology question of the day.

[Zippy]

Awwwww, can we keep 'im, can we? can we?

Oh yes

[Durbs]

Awwwww, can we keep 'im, can we? can we?

[TimberWolf]

The DLL I have seen have six legs and wings. Arachnids have a differently segmented body, no wings and eight legs.
It obviously does depend on where you live, but I haven't lived in a place where an insect is confusd with a spider - yet

At least two related groups appear to be called "daddy long-legs":

...the harvestmen (which are arachnids but not spiders), and crane flies (which are insects).
Pholcidae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Zippy]

It probably depends on where you live. Wolfram has them under Arachnida.

The DLL I have seen have six legs and wings. Arachnids have a differently segmented body, no wings and eight legs.
It obviously does depend on where you live, but I haven't lived in a place where an insect is confusd with a spider - yet