She was probably used to red squirrels.
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 11:31 (nine months ago) link
My college pals in Missouri were all, "You probably got armadillos in Arkansas, doncha?" I was surprised that there were places with no armadillos.
Of course, that was in the early 90s. A quick check of wikipedia tells me that the armadillos have now made it to Omaha, with further plans sketched for the midwest.
― pplains, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 13:43 (nine months ago) link
I thought they were only in Texas until about oh idk a couple years ago??
I saw one in Florida on the side of the road and made my dad pull over the car so I could investigate. They're so weird but I was so happy to see one. I had no idea they had them in Florida.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 13:47 (nine months ago) link
I've still only seen two of them that were alive.
― pplains, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 13:47 (nine months ago) link
ife's relatives from Paris get very excited by London squirrels. we don't have them in Portugal either.
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, July 19, 2023 5:26 AM (four hours ago)
not really the same, but we were obsessed with the storks when we visited in May
― rob, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 13:50 (nine months ago) link
I've seen red and black squirrels in New England but mostly they're grey. Animals that we don't have in NA that I'd like to see here: badgers, hedgehogs. Animals people from outside the US were excited to see when they visited me in Boston: racoons, skunks, opossums.
The armadillo I saw in Fl was def alive. Do you mostly just see roadkill? :(
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 13:54 (nine months ago) link
I had a family of armadillos living in my back yard at one point, they're pretty cute but also carry leprosy.
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:02 (nine months ago) link
I am sad that despite going to California pretty much every year from 2003-2015 that I never saw a raccoon.
I was happy to see a chipmunk one time though.
― Colonel Poo, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:15 (nine months ago) link
We had a contingent of German grad students teaching undergraduate German classes when I was in college. They got so excited by squirrels. Apparently, they are quite scarce in Germany.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:16 (nine months ago) link
tbf most of the hedgehogs I've seen in my life have been roadkill
― Colonel Poo, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:16 (nine months ago) link
I've seen plenty of roadkill armadillos in Alabama.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:17 (nine months ago) link
x-post - Yeah, I know. So weird. I wasn't cuddling the guy. I just got close-ish and got a good look.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:17 (nine months ago) link
They have squirrels in Germany but I think mostly little red ones and definitely not as many as in America.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:19 (nine months ago) link
I started seeing armadillos in MS in the 1990s, more every year since then.
― The Terroir of Tiny Town (WmC), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:21 (nine months ago) link
xps yeah grey squirrels are relatively recent to Ireland as an invasive species, you’d be more likely to see red squirrels ime. There was a dray on my walk home from school and I’d sometimes see them. I went to school way out in the country and you wouldn’t see them very much cos they’re shy (?) Grey squirrels basically outnumber people in London though. Kind of more concerned that your old babysitter seems to have stepped out of Under The Hawthorn Tree though.
― a love song for connor wong (gyac), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:26 (nine months ago) link
My back yard has plentiful chipmunks, black and grey squirrels, rabbits, and shrews/voles*, and red foxes. Occasionally a raccoon.
We don't usually get deer in the yard, but they live nearby and we see them on walks.
* = I confess I can't tell the difference between shrews and voles
― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:28 (nine months ago) link
We had a contingent of German grad students teaching undergraduate German classes when I was in college. They got so excited by squirrels. Apparently, they are quite scarce in Germany
There's an old YouTube meme about how Germans have problems pronouncing the word "squirrel".
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:44 (nine months ago) link
Actually I'm not sure how English people pronounce squirrel given how extremely non-rhotic most of them are.
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:46 (nine months ago) link
Apparently Marlene Dietrich couldn’t pronounce the word “Help!” in English until Jo directed her to pronounce it phonetically as in German.
― Live and Left Eye (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:49 (nine months ago) link
I haven't seen one squirrel since moving to Montana. (There are some, particularly in certain cities; I just haven't seen any out where I live.) The gray ones were everywhere in NJ, and my wife used to see black ones when she worked at Princeton University.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:52 (nine months ago) link
x-posts I was there a few months back and my cousin said it's the hardest word for him to pronounce in English. I got him trying on video. Tbf though eichhörnchen isn't the easiest to pronounce either.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:53 (nine months ago) link
You should hear Japanese people try it!
As a recent convert to Minnesota life I've been very happy to see urban rabbits and chipmunks, you don't get anything like that in London. Lots of grey squirls here too. Also a deer thundered past my window early one morning, but I haven't seen it again so maybe it was just a large dog? Albeit a large dog galloping down the middle of the roadway with no owner in sight.
― I fell asleep at kabuki (Matt #2), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 14:59 (nine months ago) link
The Germans called them "Vielfreßer"
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 15:46 (nine months ago) link
i learned only recently there are fireflies in utah - more in the north part of the state, around low river drainages iirc. never seen them myself.
― ꙮ (map), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 15:59 (nine months ago) link
x-post - that means like someone/thing that eats a lot but also weirdly seems to be the word for wolverine.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 16:12 (nine months ago) link
looked it up - it does mean someone who eats a lot literally but it's the word for glutton. They were calling the squirrels gluttons. :)
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 16:13 (nine months ago) link
We have large dogs down here too.
― pplains, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 16:35 (nine months ago) link
xp Yes, exactly--they are almost always nibbling.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 16:59 (nine months ago) link
aiui humans can contract leprosy from armadillos only by eating their under-cooked flesh (so always use a meat thermometer when preparing armadillo)
― Brad C., Wednesday, 19 July 2023 17:14 (nine months ago) link
xp to gyac, to be fair, this Irish babysitter cared forme from the age of 6 months to about a year— I have no memory of her
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 17:52 (nine months ago) link
here in Oakland, we actually have a family of blonde raccoons living by the lake... not true albinos, just some kind of mutation.. I see them fairly often, they're prolific swimmers
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 18:07 (nine months ago) link
I'm given to understand that firefly larvae are especially badass predators - they can numb and liquefy their prey.
― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 19:38 (nine months ago) link
When I lived in Brooklyn I was regularly delighted by the chipmunks in Prospect Park, which in themselves are I suppose no more remarkable than squirrels, but we don't get them in the UK. Americans say squirrel funny ime
― Alba, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 19:43 (nine months ago) link
I suppose it's just that they emphasise the u and we emphasise the i
― Alba, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 19:44 (nine months ago) link
skwirl
― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 19:45 (nine months ago) link
My daughter's girlfriend called them squiggles one time and now that's what we call them
― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 19:50 (nine months ago) link
Eh?
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 20:57 (nine months ago) link
You can't spell TEAM with either of those letters though.
― pplains, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:07 (nine months ago) link
I don't know, that's roughly how it sounds to me. I see skwi-rel and they say skwu-rel (apologies to IPA). There is more to it than that though, I realise – Americans tend to almost say the whole thing as one syllable whereas I stress the skwi.
― Alba, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:27 (nine months ago) link
Skwurl
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:27 (nine months ago) link
* I say skwi-rel, not I see skwi-rel, though quite often I do see skwi-rel
xpost
― Alba, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:28 (nine months ago) link
Yes, I think the main difference is Americans tend to not to pronounce the -rel part.
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:33 (nine months ago) link
... or not very strongly.
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:34 (nine months ago) link
I dunno, if you listen to Google's US and English pronunciation (controversially labelled as "British pronunciation") the rel is pretty clear
https://www.google.com/search?q=pronounce+squirrel&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB976GB977&oq=pronounce+squirrel
― Alba, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:39 (nine months ago) link
Sounds like skwurl to me...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P6B2JRU4Rk
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:46 (nine months ago) link
Whereas...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGyWifMrDsA
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:48 (nine months ago) link
There was a thread many years ago that I can’t find but sarahell and a few other people were riffing on the “change girl to squirrel” in a song lyric fun. i still sing “hey little squirrel, i wanna be yr boyfriend” when i have a notable interaction with one
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:52 (nine months ago) link
Yes that wouldn't work in England - but it would in Scotland because "girl" is pronounced "gir-rel"!
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:57 (nine months ago) link
In America it’s one syllable - here it’s 2. I hate it.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:58 (nine months ago) link
shockingly old to learn that 'squirrel' in an international tongue twister, had no idea
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 21:58 (nine months ago) link