Do you say pollywog or tadpole?

[J-rap]

I was talking to my dd today about pollywogs, and she had no idea what I was talking about!  Thinking it over, I believe most people around here call them tadpoles.  In the part of the country I grew up in, we always called them pollywogs.  Is this a regional thing?  

[JustEm]

Tadpoles

[reign]

Tadpole! I'm in Michigan.

[athomeontheprairie]

And a super quick google search shows me how wrong I am.

 

I say tadpole

Edited June 1, 2017 by athomeontheprairie

[J-rap]

Every definition I've looked up says they are exactly the same.

[SKL]

I thought they were two different stages of frog development.  You mean my elementary science teacher lied ???

[wendyroo]

Tadpole.

[Paige]

I thought they were two different stages of frog development.  You mean my elementary science teacher lied ???

 

That's what I was taught too. I thought tadpoles were the little swimmers and pollywogs were the little swimmers when they could kind of kick. 

 

Mostly we just call them tadpoles but I wouldn't look at you funny if you said pollywog.

[J-rap]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadpole

 

http://animals.mom.me/difference-between-polliwogs-tadpoles-8555.html

 

http://frogsource.com/news/polliwogs-or-tadpoles

 

 

 

 

[J-rap]

 

 

Mostly we just call them tadpoles but I wouldn't look at you funny if you said pollywog.

 

I'm glad you wouldn't look at me funny!  :)

 

 

[SKL]

I think we should ask dmmetler!

[Selkie]

Most everyone here in my corner of the midwest calls them tadpoles, although I have heard them called pollywogs, too.

[JumpyTheFrog]

As a kid, I learned that tadpoles had no legs and pollywogs had small back legs.

[athomeontheprairie]

I thought they were two different stages of frog development.  You mean my elementary science teacher lied ???

 

 

That's what I was taught too. I thought tadpoles were the little swimmers and pollywogs were the little swimmers when they could kind of kick. 

 

Mostly we just call them tadpoles but I wouldn't look at you funny if you said pollywog.

 

That was my response. I thought it referred to stages of development

 

I think we should ask dmmetler!

Then I said this. Where is she?

 

Next time, I won't delete my post so quickly. For a moment I thought I was completely losing it...

[Guest]

Tadpole, California and Alaska.

[SKL]

Well of course when I was a kid, Pluto was a planet too, so ....

[SparklyUnicorn]

tadpole, but I am familiar with the other term too

 

 

[MercyA]

Tadpole, Midwest.

 

I think I've pretty much only read "pollywog" in books. Or maybe there is a children's song with that term in it?

[FaithManor]

Tadpole, Great Lakes Region.

[kewb]

Tadpole, Mid-Atlantic but I do know the term pollywog.

 

[umsami]

Tadpole, Michigan...but I've heard pollywog too. :)

[maize]

I say tadpole.

 

Here's a look at the etymology of both terms:

 

 

http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/05/tadpole-pollywog.html

[Guest]

Both, for different stages of development

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

 

 

I use both, based on stage of development.

[displace]

Tadpole. I had forgotten there were names for different body developmental stages.

[maize]

I've never heard of them being names for different developmental stages. I wonder where that idea originated?

 

To me pollywog has always been just an alternative name for a tadpole.

[Cindy in FL.]

Tadpole.

[J-rap]

Both, for different stages of development

 

But apparently these both represent the exact same stage of development.

[J-rap]

I've never heard of them being names for different developmental stages. I wonder where that idea originated?

 

To me pollywog has always been just an alternative name for a tadpole.

 

Yes, they are interchangeable names, representing the same stage of development.

[Guest]

But apparently these both represent the exact same stage of development.

That's still what I SAY 😄 that was the question, no?

Edited June 2, 2017 by OKBud

[J-rap]

I use both, based on stage of development.

 

They apparently represent the same stage of development though.

[Paige]

But apparently these both represent the exact same stage of development.

 

Has that always been true? I am sure my teacher said otherwise when we did frogs. We even had class frogs that we got to see go through their stages. Is this like Pluto isn't a planet, or maybe it's a regional thing with teachers passing on colloquial terms?

 

I feel betrayed.

[tdbates78]

Tadpole, southern IL and NC. I have heard of pollywog too, but we always just call them tadpoles.

[cintinative]

tadpole

 

I had never heard the term pollywog until I was an adult.

[maize]

They apparently represent the same stage of development though.

Except that--if in some dialectical variations they refer to different stages--then to those people the words DO represent different stages.

 

It doesn't have to be all one way or the other.

[maize]

A bit of Google sleuthing suggests that the term pollywog is more commin in England and that porwigle is another variation found there.

 

I haven't found anything yet on tadpole and pollywog being used for different stages. Since several people in this thread seem to have learned this usage though it must come from somewhere--local dialect, or...could it be some misguided science textbook writer made up the distinction and it got taught in elementary schools around the country?!?

 

Pure speculation.

 

For those who have used the terms for different stages of development, do you all agree on which stage comes first? I'm cirious.

Edited June 2, 2017 by maize

[freesia]

Tadpole, Mid-Atlantic but I do know the term pollywog.

Same here

[creekland]

Tadpole.  We have tons of them around here in the spring.  

[Dmmetler]

Tadpole is the larval stage, just after hatching. Pollywog is the metamorph stage, when they are starting to get legs, froglet is the stage with four legs and a tail, juvenile is when they leave the water. You rarely see pollywog in formal papers though, in favor of metamorph, while you see tadpole more than larva. But when out in the field collecting the wiggly guys, that's the division that seems to be made

Edited June 2, 2017 by dmmetler

[maize]

Tadpole is the larval stage, just after hatching. Pollywog is the metamorph stage, when they are starting to get legs, froglet is the stage with four legs and a tail, juvenile is when they leave the water. You rarely see pollywog in formal papers though, in favor of metamorph, while you see tadpole more than larva. But when out in the field collecting the wiggly guys, that's the division that seems to be made

Do you have a reference for pollywog defined as the metamorph stage?

 

I've been searching and can't find any definition for pollywog other than as a synonym for tadpole or frog larva.

[Dmmetler]

That's just what I hear used in the field-the term used in formal papers, etc, is metamorph, and then the first section will define if they mean 2 legs, four legs, tail almost absorbed, etc as needed. But when you're doing counts, it makes sense to be able to say that you have a pollywog vs a froglet vs a tadpole.

[maize]

That's just what I hear used in the field-the term used in formal papers, etc, is metamorph, and then the first section will define if they mean 2 legs, four legs, tail almost absorbed, etc as needed. But when you're doing counts, it makes sense to be able to say that you have a pollywog vs a froglet vs a tadpole.

So--pollywog is definitely being used informally in the scientific community, at least in your area, for the metamorph stage.

 

Fascinating and I still wonder where/how/when that usage originated, and how widespread it is.

[J-rap]

 

I've been searching and can't find any definition for pollywog other than as a synonym for tadpole or frog larva.

 

This is all I've been able to find too.  And, apparently I'm the only one who more commonly uses the word pollywog instead of tadpole!

[J-rap]

Maybe I use that term more because of my swimming lesson days at the YMCA as a kid.  :)  Their first level was "Polliwog."  (They spelled it with an "i" instead of a "y".)

[Janeway]

Tadpole. I have never even heard of a pollywog. When I was young, the younger swim class for lessons was called the tadpoles.

[Janeway]

Maybe I use that term more because of my swimming lesson days at the YMCA as a kid. :) Their first level was "Polliwog." (They spelled it with an "i" instead of a "y".)

I wonder what part of the country. Because I took lessons at the Y growing up and they called it tadpole. Mine were in the Midwest. It seems interesting they used similar names, but set to the regional dialect or vocabulary.

[SKL]

Tadpole is the larval stage, just after hatching. Pollywog is the metamorph stage, when they are starting to get legs, froglet is the stage with four legs and a tail, juvenile is when they leave the water. You rarely see pollywog in formal papers though, in favor of metamorph, while you see tadpole more than larva. But when out in the field collecting the wiggly guys, that's the division that seems to be made

 

This is what we were taught in elementary science 40+ years ago.

 

I wonder if they've watered down the textbooks since then, as has happened for some other subjects ....

 

Anyhoo, this is a nice lay illustration for how scientific "facts" change over time ....

 

[maize]

Distribution map for dialecal use of pollywog vs. tadpole:

 

(scroll down a bit)

 

http://www.daredictionary.com/page/geomaps/#FishingHuntingWildlife

[J-rap]

I wonder what part of the country. Because I took lessons at the Y growing up and they called it tadpole. Mine were in the Midwest. It seems interesting they used similar names, but set to the regional dialect or vocabulary.

 

Mine were in the Bay area, west coast.  That IS interesting that even the Y called its beginning level by different names!

[maize]

First link shows the distribution map for pollywog, second for tadpole. Tadpole is more common overall but there is clear regional variation.

 

http://www.daredictionary.com/staticfiles/assets/images/104797.png

 

http://www.daredictionary.com/staticfiles/assets/images/104807.png

Edited June 2, 2017 by maize