The roly poly bug is kind of like a grub but it has a hard coated shell (in several parts to make it flexible). We called them either roly poly bugs or water bugs, but water bug wasn't a choice.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ulgare_001.jpg


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...p_for_wiki.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillidiidae

Rotaries are circles in DC (Logan Circle, DuPont Circle), and I grew up knowing them as roundabouts (not sure of the region that represents). (Rotary is a civic organization!) And AGDee is absolutely right -- roly polies -- that's them!

I call those bugs potato bugs because my mom calls them that, and she originally grew up just outside of Cleveland. I think it's interesting when a word is only used in one specific area and you can pinpoint where it's been picked up from.

I don't know whether it was the roly-poly or the roundabout, but the test placed me in two cities in the Southeast that are not geographically proximate, but one of which is my hometown!! That's a little eerie!

Well, it wasn't the roly-poly because AGDee is from Michigan.

I have a question for any Coloradans reading this thread: How do you pronounce the city named "Pueblo"? (A neighbor, who is from southern Colorado, surprised me with her pronunciation. I'm curious whether it is the norm or not.)

It's a traffic circle here, not a roundabout. If you take the test again, you'll see that on the left hand side, it shows how your response to the previous question relates to geographic areas, based on just that response. Some things are definitely related to larger areas than others.

One I didn't see on there but that I know is different in different places is a shopping cart. We call them shopping carts but everybody I know in the South calls it a buggy.

What part of the South, AGDee? I truly don't know anyone who calls a shopping cart a buggy. You are still correct on roly-poly! (So it must be the roundabout that planted me in the Southeast.)

I took the test again and some different questions popped up. The resulting map was still the Southeast but a new hotspot. I then selected the least similar map, and up popped Providence/Worcester. Clemsongirl, that means our pronunciation of your university differs! : ). Of course, Clemson has three syllables! : )

I call it a buggy in Tennessee, FWIW.

Thanks, AIB! I really was scratching my head on that one.

I had some different questions pop up the second time, too.

That bug is a roly-poly. We don't really have very many of them, at all, but I think I've used traffic circle and roundabout interchangeably. Neither one sounds "weird" to me, but the other choices did.

I have a different question. Around here, we have something that is commonly called a "Michigan turn." I've always wondered about this name, because other places must have them, too. AGDee, have you heard this term? Instead of making a left turn, at busy intersections/boulevards, you often have to turn right, then come back around. I googled it, and found articles, images, etc.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...qTlV0Z1HKQ5IAA

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/da...b73dqJjPC7/9k=
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/da...qhms7zAH//2Q==

It would be nice for the terms to be identified by region. I agree that it is a roly-poly though I have heard of "doodle bug" (but never had any visual concept of what a doodle bug is.)

I've called it a buggy my whole life, and everyone around me calls it the same. I grew up in Texas and have lived in several other locales throughout the southeast. It's been part of the vernacular everywhere that I have lived.

Okay. Maybe not as popular a word in the Carolinas? My friends and I call them carts.

How would you pronounce Clemson? I call it CLEM-sun but I've also hear CLIM-sin, CLIM-sun and CLEMP-sun depending on the degree of Southern accent.

I can't figure out how one could get 3 syllables out of Clemson?