Why are woodlice called Billy Bakers?
The link goes to a page suggests that ‘Billy Bakers’ is indeed a Somerset expression, and gives some other names for them- ‘Slaters’ in Scotland, ‘pea bugs’ or ‘pill bugs’ in some other places. It doesn’t explain the baker stuff, but I read elsewhere that the pill connection is because they look like pills when they have rolled into a ball. http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadi… Hehe, yes, there is a woodlouse recipe on that page as well… but please don’t do it, poor creatures. Found another page where someone reports calling them ‘cheesy bakers’. http://www.qi.com/talk/viewtopic.php?p=1… This page shows that they are ‘crawly bakers’ in Blyth! http://www.blythpower.co.uk/blythwatch/w… Here’s the wikipedia contribution for UK woodlouse naming- No mention
