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Where have all the cheesy Bobs gone?

2shy20072shy2007 Posts: 52,579
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in General Discussion #1
Not the common ones that cant curl up, I mean the shiny ones we saw as children with armour like an armadillo and that can curl up into a complete ball??

I have not seen one in years

( In case you are not aware, cheesy Bobs are woodlice ;))
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    dawnrayddawnrayd Posts: 6,746
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    #2
    I used to see loads, but have put the fact I've not seen any in ages, down to me no longer grubbing around in the garden, building dens, or being a kid - woodlice and myself no longer cross paths :)
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    2shy20072shy2007 Posts: 52,579
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    #3
    I garden quite lot and havent seen one in years, I see hundreds of the other ones......and yes, I am officially sad in asking this :D
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 21,093
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    #4
    They must have moved to Wales because there are loads in my garden.

    Edit: Why Cheesey Bobs?
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    darkmothdarkmoth Posts: 12,265
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    #5
    2shy2007 wrote: »
    Not the common ones that cant curl up, I mean the shiny ones we saw as children with armour like an armadillo and that can curl up into a complete ball??

    I have not seen one in years

    ( In case you are not aware, cheesy Bobs are woodlice ;))

    No, they're called Penny Sows!

    And they are all over my garden
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    exlordlucanexlordlucan Posts: 35,375
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    #6
    They're all in the gap in my back door.
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    2shy20072shy2007 Posts: 52,579
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    #7
    I think that cheesy Bobs is a Surrey thing, they seem to have different names all over the country. glad you have some darkmoth, I will swap you some of my non curling ones ;)

    I am now in the South West and havent seen one since I moved here 8 years ago!
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    darkmothdarkmoth Posts: 12,265
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    #8
    2shy2007 wrote: »
    I think that cheesy Bobs is a Surrey thing, they seem to have different names all over the country. glad you have some darkmoth, I will swap you some of my non curling ones ;)

    I am now in the South West and havent seen one since I moved here 8 years ago!

    Leave a bin bag out on the patio overnight...there'll be loads tomorrow
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    2shy20072shy2007 Posts: 52,579
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    #9
    Now,earwigs, we have plenty of those, they are blinking everywhere.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 21,093
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    #10
    2shy2007 wrote: »
    Now,earwigs, we have plenty of those, they are blinking everywhere.
    I had a load on my washing the other day. B*stard things :mad:
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    2shy20072shy2007 Posts: 52,579
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    #11
    stupidwheelie wrote: »
    I had a load on my washing the other day. B*stard things :mad:

    I know, they are all hiding in our clothes ready to attack when least expected.
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    dawnrayddawnrayd Posts: 6,746
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    #12
    darkmoth wrote: »
    No, they're called Penny Sows!

    And they are all over my garden

    I've lived 9 years in London, a further 9 years in Newcastle until I was 18, and 14 years in Liverpool, and have never heard the terms Cheesy Bobs or Penny Sows :)

    However it's possible if I was a Gardner or in a profession where woodlice got involved, I would be able to tell you the local North West lingo for woodlice :)

    In fact it's actually quite interesting there is regional slang for woodlice, I know a tree surgeon here in Liverpool, and will ask him about this, if there is a Scouse word for Woodlice, I'll report back :)
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    2shy20072shy2007 Posts: 52,579
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    #13
    Good work ;)
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 21,093
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    #14
    2shy2007 wrote: »
    I know, they are all hiding in our clothes ready to attack when least expected.
    They suck your brain out of your ear.
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    dawnrayddawnrayd Posts: 6,746
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    #15
    dawnrayd wrote: »
    if there is a Scouse word for Woodlice, I'll report back :)

    I asked him, and to fair it's match day, he was mashed, and due to the question I was asking him, assumed I was high as a kite, so we'll have to wait for a definitive answer in regards to scouse slang for woodlice :)
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    2shy20072shy2007 Posts: 52,579
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    #16
    We wait with baited breath ;)
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    AlphaKAlphaK Posts: 3,733
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    #17
    Useless fact (due to my "useless degree - but that's another thread ) but not all are woodlice ;)
    There is a species of millipede - the pill millipede - that also rolls up .
    Once upon a time (1981) I could have told you how to tell the difference but I've long forgotten :o:D
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    KasphlamKasphlam Posts: 2,313
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    #18
    I call woodlice cheesy bobs too! I'm from Surrey though so what you said makes sense.. Never met anyone else who does :D
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    2shy20072shy2007 Posts: 52,579
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    #19
    AlphaK wrote: »
    Useless fact (due to my "useless degree - but that's another thread ) but not all are woodlice ;)
    There is a species of millipede - the pill millipede - that also rolls up .
    Once upon a time (1981) I could have told you how to tell the difference but I've long forgotten :o:D

    Oh my gosh, just searched them some are enormous! but yes, that is what I was thinking of, the small version of course.

    We used to call those and woodlice, cheesybobs, I had no idea they were a kind of millipede, thanks for that .
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    darkmothdarkmoth Posts: 12,265
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    #20
    http://www.sustainablescotland.com/index.php/General/sustainable-scotland-woodlice-poem-icellandic-volcanoes.html
    THE NAMING OF WOODLICE

    armadillo, armourhead, bakers, ballyspider, beer barrel /

    bibble bug, belly button, bues, button crawler, carbender, carpenter /

    carpenter pig, carpenter's bug, carpenter's flea, cheese bug, cheeselip, cheeselipp worm/

    cheeseybob, cheesy bug, cheesy log, cherwood, chesbug, chestlock, chestworm, chewbug, chicky-pig, chiselbob, chiselhead, chitty bob, chizzleball, chizzler, chooky pig, chucky pig, chuggy pig, chuggyslice, church pig/

    cobber, coffin cutter, crawley baker, crawley pig, cricket ball, criller, crumple ball, cudworm, curley button, doodlybug, earywig, fairies pig, fat sow, footballer, freds/

    gammer louse, gammer-zow, God's pigs, gramma-sow, grammer-zow, grampian, grampus wood-bug, grampy gravy, granfather Dick, granfer, granfer geeks, granfer grey, granfer grig, granfer jig, granny grig, granny picker, grannysmith, greyback, grumasil,
    guinea pig, hardback, hardyback, hobthrust, hobthrust louse, hoglouse, horace, humbug, Johnny bug, Johnny carpenter, jovial live/

    killimbobs, kirklouse, kitchen ball, leatherback, little armadillo, loafer/

    lobster louse, lobstrous louse, lockchester, loop, loose pig, mackintosh, monkey pea, monkey pease, monk's pease, odimadod,
    old sow, parson's pig/

    pea-bug, penny pea bug, penny sow, pennypig, pennymouse, Peter grandad, pig, pig-louse, piggy, piggy-wiggy, pig's buttons, pill bug, pill worm, pollybaker, pollydishwasher, reudan, Saint Anthony's buttons, Saint Anthony's pig, scabby sow bug, shell back, show laces, show maker, sink lice, slater, snot, soda-pig, sour-bug, sow, sow bug, sow lice, sow pig, sow-beetle, spaceman, steelback, Susie pig, tailor, tank, thrush louse, thurse louse, thurslows, tiddlyboar, tiddyhog, tiggy-hog, tiler's lice, tillerlouse, toebiter, trilobite, tylus, wedderclock, William button, wood bug, wood flea, woodly bug, wood pug, woozy pug, yekersterse.

    These are all names included in a list of regional and dialect names for the woodlouse (or slater) in Stefan Buczacki’s Fauna Britannica, 2002. There are a few more names on the list and the list in the book is itself an abbreviated version of a list compiled by a correspondent. It would be fair to say that there are a lot of names for the woodlouse. It would be equally fair to say that the excess of names does not arise from the cuteness of the slater and the affection people feel toward it (though it is completely harmless to humans and their habitations) but rather from the opposite emotion – our dislike of these creatures, combined with their everywhereness. One thing is certain concerning the woodlouse – they were here on this earth billions of years before we came long (or evolved if you prefer) and they will be still be here long after we have gone. Climate change, pollution, over-population, war, global pandemics may lead at some time to our end as inhabitants of Planet Earth but it will not mean the end of Life on Earth, and the woodlouse will certainly survive.

    http://wobblywood.co.uk/artwork/1813383_woodlouse.html

    Penny sow is a Pembrokeshire term
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    TheSilentFezTheSilentFez Posts: 11,103
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    #21
    We call Woodlice "Slaters"
    The common Woodlouse:Here
    The ones that can curl up: Pillbug
    There is also a similar arthropod: Pill Millipede
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    elvis_presleyelvis_presley Posts: 280
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    #22
    What the f**k is the point in them ? they come out the cracks of your skirting boards & anywhere else they can get out of. I found 3 on the floor just outside my kitchen door the other night, there were 2 on my living room ceiling i hate them what do you think about them ?
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,554
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    #23
    They're probably the only bugs that I can stand.
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    netcurtainsnetcurtains Posts: 23,494
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    #24
    This house was inundated with them when we first moved in. You'd be curled up on the sofa of an evening and there'd be a procession of them crawling along the skirting boards. Rarely see one anymore, apart from out in the garden, since we did the place up.
    Once we got rid of all the damp and decorated the whole place, they stopped coming in. They love damp wood, that's what attracts them
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 120
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    #25
    elvis_presley wrote: »
    What the f**k is the point in them ? they come out the cracks of your skirting boards & anywhere else they can get out of. I found 3 on the floor just outside my kitchen door the other night, there were 2 on my living room ceiling i hate them what do you think about them ?

    Are you seriously asking what the point of woodlice is? Try replacing rotting wood they wont be there then.
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    crazychris12crazychris12 Posts: 26,254
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    #26
    I hate them. When we moved here there were dozens dead on the bedroom floors yet we haven't seen many living ones inside. Horrible revolting things.:mad:
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