So cute, it looks like it’s wearing a little mask.

English “mites” are not called mites at all in French, they’re called acariens. (And in English, the study of mites/acariens is called “acarology”!) Since those are arachnids, they’re very different from moths/mites which are insects, but the word “mite” has the same origin in both languages.

In 1765, the Encyclopedia described mites as having either six or eight legs, and talks a lot about what seems to be the flour mite Acarus siro (which was called mite du fromage at the time but is never called a mite in modern French), so it looks like the word used to have a broader meaning in French.

We have pantry moths and clothing moths, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen in person.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a clothing moth’s caterpillar once.

I had just put on a dress I really liked when, looking down, I made out what I thought was a bit of white fluff hidden in one of its folds. I rubbed it to get it off the dress, and inside was some kind of worm, moving slightly. I’m usually tolerant and curious of bugs, but that one really freaked me out; I killed it right away out of pure reflex and threw it as far away as I could.

Gameboy enters the chat.

I guess it’s because “fou” means “new” in Samoan. Why Samoan, though.

Polkupyöräilijöiden kuolonkolari Helsingissä

All these diaereses look so angry in the first word. I can’t understand a word of Finnish but it’s like I can feel how dramatic the event is.

… Actually, I looked it up and it seems that “Polkupyöräilijöiden” just means “cyclists”, whereas the word for “fatal accident” doesn’t have a single diaeresis. What a strange, misleading language. Joke aside, I’m sorry for the person who died. :-(

Sphinx moths are awesome ! And a lot easier to see in the country where I live, yes. :-)

I’ve never seen one of those in real life. I’ll be ecstatic if it ever happens.

Good for them! I love their big orange eyes. :-)

Come for the cute picture, stay for the sobering and useful information.

So cute. :-)

I didn’t know this species, and I love it!

“Naphta” immediately makes me think of “naphtaline” balls, which were used to repel moths from closets a few generations ago — it’s been banned since for being kinda carcinogenic. I’ve never seen it used, and didn’t know that it was made from petroleum.

I’m a native French speaker and I had never realised that before reading your comment, lol.

I’ve called it essence all my life without giving it a thought, and I’m delighted to see the reactions the word is getting here.

I’m guessing it’s actually a chemical term?

To be fair, I doubt most Jews would have seen that as a safe place just after WW2…

using public transport helps. At least I get to relax, play a game, knit, etc.

This is true, but only if it’s not crowded and you get to sit down. The same commute time feels completely different during rush hour and off-peak.

The picture of the owl in the window frame makes me think of a trompe-l’œil (I searched the translation for that expression, but apparently English says it in French too, funny).

I had to look in a dictionary for “stoat”, I remember hearing that word but I tend to mix up mustelids even in French so I would never trust my ability to name them correctly in English.

Here, two of our mustelids look very similar : the hermine (= stoat or ermine, Mustela erminea) and the slightly smaller belette (= weasel, Mustela nivalis). They’re easier to tell apart in winter, when the stoat gets a white coat of fur while the weasel keeps its brown back (in Western Europe, I think weasels can change colour in other places?). The fact that their American cousin Mustela richardsonii also gets a white coat in winter makes me want to call it a stoat too, but it’s not my place to tell Americans how to name their animals, ha ha.

I don’t remember ever seeing a stoat in the wild, but two times I’ve encountered a beech marten that was searching through the waste bins in my very urban street, at night. It was a good surprise even though I didn’t get to take a good look.

She was getting hundreds of notifications per day from Youtube of AI generated videos of Pope Leo doing bad stuff or something…

What the fuck.

How majestic.

In the worst-case scenario, it can be a reward-trip for getting my diploma in a few years! I’m counting on you in the meanwhile, ha ha.