Earwigs

[Pythia]

What other names do you know for earwigs? I can already see some of you shuddering at the very thought of them and I saw two for the first time in ages. They've given me the heebie-jeebies since I can remember (probably learned from my mother who would run a mile on seeing one) but they seem to have more names than any other beastie I can think of. The names for them seem to vary from place to place and I wondered what you call them.

I'll start the ball rolling:

Forkytails
Scissortails
Horny-golachs (Golach coming from the Scots Gaelic, Golachan)
Golachs
Golligans (a corruption of Golachan)

What other names do they have?

I'm not so afraid of them now as I used to be, partly because I think of them as small animals and they're probably more afraid of me than I am of them. I have been nipped in the past a couple of times.

These two were quite small. I just let them go on their way and carried on planting my plants

[Paul mabbott]

Forficula auricularia
Wiki gives some foreign names:
Earwig - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Pythia]

I meant colloquial rather than foreign. Ended up reading a lot about them last night and learned a few things I didn't know. One being that they have beautiful wings. Took me a while to find a photo of one with it's wings out on the internet but worth looking for.

[Paul mabbott]

Yes, but interesting that they foreign names have similar meanings to the English vernacular. However, the main point I was making was that most insect people would know it by its scientific (Latin) name! Although, of course, there are three (or more) other UK species.

They are fascinating animals showing maternal care. Certainly not to be afraid of and, generally, benevolent.

Originally Posted by Pythia

I meant colloquial rather than foreign. Ended up reading a lot about them last night and learned a few things I didn't know. One being that they have beautiful wings. Took me a while to find a photo of one with it's wings out on the internet but worth looking for.