this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2025
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[–] nocturne@slrpnk.net 52 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The colloquial name daddy-long-legs is often used to refer to Pholcidae, harvestmen, and crane flies. This name originates in Faroese as "lokki-grindalokki-grindalokkur" which literally translates to "daddy-long-legs". It is likely a kenning and more accurately translates to "grandfather of web spinners" as it refers to the Nordic god Loki who was associated with spiders in folklore.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Huh, who uses that term for "crane flies"? We (US) use it for Pholcidae, and I think I've heard harvestmen called that on Australia or something, but never crane flies.

[–] horseloaf@piefed.zip 16 points 1 day ago

The UK uses it for crane flies.

[–] burgersc12@mander.xyz 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Definitely depends on the region, cause daddy long legs are harvestmen (northeast US) e.g.

collapsed inline mediadll vs cellar spider

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think Ireland does. I occasionally hear it here in the UK, though it typically means harvestmen here

[–] FishFace@piefed.social 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I always heard it used for both and it confused me that they were two different things.

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 2 points 1 day ago

I suppose it could depend on the region? We've got a very dense patchwork of dialects and they'll naturally bleed into one another a fair bit

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

We use skeeter bomber/eater for crane flies, depending on how recently they've eaten