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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for June 18, 1999
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earwig [n. EER-wig]
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An earwig is a small insect with prominent pincers (cerci) at the end
of its abdomen, belonging to the order Dermaptera. Although they are
actually harmless soil scavengers, there is a very old, persistent
belief that earwigs crawl into people's ears, becoming deeply lodged
there.
There is also a more recent verb sense: to earwig someone is to try to
influence them by persistently whispering in their ear or
communicating confidentially.
The Old English word for "insect" was wicga, which probably came from
the ancient root wig-, source of Modern English wiggle. To the Anglo-
Saxons, an earwig was an earwicga (ear-insect, or ear-wiggler).
The earwig's unearned reputation also contributed to its name in other
languages; in French it is a perce-orielle (ear-piercer), in German it
is an Ohrwurm (ear-worm) and in Russian it is an ukhovertka (ear-
turner).
More about earwigs:
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~insect/veg/european_earwig.htm
http://entowww.tamu.edu/extension/youth/bug/bug017.html
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