Mama asked: Which name is correct for the brown furry animal, often seen sitting upright beside the road…groundhog, woodchuck or whistle pig? Who ever thought up these names, anyway? I WON’T ask about said animal’s chucking ability.
Alright people, this question came from my mom, the most awesome, loving, and talkative short person I know. Anyway, let’s see here.
First of all, I usually prefer the Latin terminology when referring to wildlife. In this case, Marmota monax. The colloquial names all have interesting stories behind them. Pulling out once more our vast etymological skills, let’s examine the term “groundhog.” Obviously comprised of a combination of the roots “ground” and “hog,” this word has an interesting background. Using the third variation of the tenth definition of ground as laid out in the Oxford English Dictionary, we see that the word refers to the act of connecting to the earth as an electrical conductor. As the story goes, a farmer once saw Mamota monax attempting to cross some telephone wires. Unfortunately, the poor rodent formed a complete circuit and was fried. The farmer, for some reason, decided that the animal was a pig and shouted out, “Look at that grounded hog!” The passersby thought he said groundhog, hence the propagation of the current term (no pun intended).
Woodchuck has a much simpler source of nomenclature. The father of all American woodchucks, Sir Charles Woodsby III, immigrated from England in the mid-1800s. The somewhat redneck customs official did not like the haughty English rodent, so he gave him the name of Woodchuck.
The term whistle pig came from the rodents’ propensity for using wild bird calls to organize attacks on passing wagon supply trains. The rodents were quite brutal and left no survivors. Due to the animal’s piggish behavior and interesting vocal abilities, the pioneers started calling them whistle pigs .
As to the animals’ abilities to chuck wood, that is merely an old wives’ tale propagated by Paula Deen. You shouldn’t believe everything you read.
Have a nice Tuesday!
~XK
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