"Love bug"

[Ronald Butters]

I thought the term referred to the parasites also known as "crabs" and "scabies"
On Feb 13, 2011, at 7:33 PM, Darla Wells wrote:

> When I lived in Wichita Falls, Texas, love bugs were those little black bugs
> that were physically attached to each other and that ended up all over
> people's car windows in the spring. Not sure what they were doing as I know
> nothing at all about bug sex, but that's sure what it looked like, hence the
> name.
> Darla
>
> 2011/2/12 Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      "Love bug"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I've always understood "love bug" to refer to a mythical insect whose
>> bite causes a person - will-he, nill-he - to fall in love. A popular
>> R&B song of my youth discussed this very phenomenon.
>>
>> However, as my wife uses the term, "love bug" refers to a being, human
>> or otherwise, that desires and enjoys "loving," i.e. being fondled,
>> stroked, petted, tickled, etc. She often applies it to our kitties.
>>
>> Of course, I'm also familiar with "Love Bug" as the title of a movie
>> featuring a VW beetle or "bug.".
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"a strange complaint to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible
> warning. -Catherine Aird
>
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