The best branding of all time for creepy crawlies is the now universal language for giant roaches in the sunshine state: that's right, the boat-sized Palmetto bugs that are basically everywhere here. Palmetto bugs, my ass. They're roaches!
I heard a new one the other day at lunch. My co-worker was telling me that her condominium complex had recently lived through an explosion of fruit rats, which true to their names,
a.) are rats indeed
b.) are attracted to fruit trees, inevitably dropping rotting oranges and grapefruits on which they feed
Still, rats = pests quickly unless you have a healthy snake population nearby. So how to get rid of the tiny PR problem at their condo? Hmmm....the non-wildlife savvy populace here is less than shrewd about furry things, just like insects. Of course! So let's start referring to the fruit rats as chincillas. Oh shut UP.
But I have to say, condo management: that was freaking brilliant! Co-worker says that everyone in the complex is calling the rats chinchillas. And there you go, pest problem solved.
(Photo above from http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/SmallMammals)
8 comments:
I remember in the 1970s after one or two nasty nuclear accidents, the nuclear power industry was trying to get people to call "rads" (units of radiation exposure) "sunshine units" instead.
Hahaha! It's like product renaming to make it more appealing to the market. And how can pests ever be appealing? They are still pests no matter what name they're given. xoxo
Wow, that is some spin! I've never bought the Palmetto bug thing, though: a roach is a roach...and in the final analysis, I'm willing to bet a chinchilla is, well, a rat.
The locusts who eat my seedlings? Crop Reduction Aggression Pests (CRAP). There is no cute way to say "the bugs of biblical proportion who descend on the land to ruin our lives".
Oh, "Palmetto" bugs are horrid, just oversized roaches...fruit rats, oh no! I'm all for preserving life, but those are two that I won't mind if they reside elsewhere.
Great PR spin for the fruit rats! That's too funny.
Hahaha... it's PR genius! Cute little chinchillas... :oP
I suppose that just because it's steaming; doesn't mean it's oatmeal.
What's wrong with rats? As long as they stay out of the house they pose no problem. I have some living under one of my decks and they provide endless entertainment for the dogs who sniff and dig at them whenever they get the chance. When they multiply the owls, ratsnakes, raccoons and stray cats show up and they are soon gone. Nature's entertainment. Of course, not as entertaining as Chinchillas!
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