Good heavens! Is it National Badger Day *already*?
Well, lookit that. Tuesday, October 6 is National Badger Day (which I’m pretty sure is a totally made up fundraising holiday invented by the National Badger Trust).
In honor of this most artificial of celebrations, here are ten badger facts I totally lifted verbatim from today’s Express:
1. The earliest recorded use of the word “badger” for the animal was in 1523. Before that, it was called a “brock” or “bauson”.
2. “Badger” was originally (around 1500) a word for an itinerant trader.
3. The animal was probably called a “badger” from the badge-like white mark on its forehead.
4. Another theory it that is comes from the French word “bêcheur” meaning a digger.
5. Badgers feed mainly on earthworms of which they may eat hundreds every night.
6. According to an old belief, when a badger bites, it will not loosen its grip until its teeth meet.
7. A male badger is a boar, a female is a sow, the young are cubs and their system of underground burrows is a sett.
8. Interfering with a badger sett is an offence under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. So is obstructing access to any entrance of a sett.
9. The honey badger, or ratel, is considered by many to be the world’s most ferocious and fearless animal.
10. The word “badger” does not appear in any Shakespeare play but Twelfth Night mentions “brock” once.
Must find out who does badger PR. Weasels could use a bit of that.
Posted: October 6th, 2015 under animals, britain, holidays, personal.
Comments: 12
Comments
Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: October 6, 2015, 9:26 pm
It was worth every penny we paid them!
Comment from SCOTTtheBADGER
Time: October 7, 2015, 2:10 am
Did you gather around the Badger Tree, singing Badger Carols, and drinking hot apple cider? Did you get your Badger Day cards out in time?
Every Day is Badger Day in Wisconsin.
Comment from netwing11@yahoo.com
Time: October 7, 2015, 2:17 am
Happy Badger Day, Uncle B! (I’m afraid your gift will be a little late.) Dogpile has it wrong. They say today is Mad Hatter Day.
Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: October 7, 2015, 2:57 am
Happy Badger Day to one of the kindest, sweetest, animals on the planet!!
Wait, uh why is everyone laughing?
Comment from mojo
Time: October 7, 2015, 3:05 am
My goodness, what a handsome fellow!
Comment from Anonymous
Time: October 7, 2015, 4:27 am
I don’t see any humor in what you say, Some Veg. Everyone knows that the International Standard Unit for affibilty is the Badger. Which, of course, is divided into millibadgers, centibadgers, decibadgers, and kilobadgers. Uncle badger is one of the finest of our kind, a 1KB type, to be sure.
Comment from Wolfus Aurelius
Time: October 7, 2015, 1:48 pm
So how did the verb “to badger” come to mean “harass and annoy”? The impression I get about these fine mustelids (the four-footed ones, now) is that they prefer to be left alone. STRICTLY alone. And you can’t annoy people if you’re keeping to yourself.
At a New Mexico zoo some years ago I saw a wolverine, the badger’s cousin. He would emerge from his hole in his enclosure, glare in fury at the people looking at him, then dive back into his hole. Fifteen seconds later, he’d pop back out, glare, and vanish again. Over and over, until we moved on. Something tells me he would not be fun to encounter in the wild.
(I am sure Uncle Badger is nothing like that.)
Comment from Can’t Hark My Cry
Time: October 7, 2015, 3:52 pm
Wolfus Aurelius: the Oxford Dictionaries online site says “The verb sense (late 18th century) originates from the formerly popular sport of badger baiting.” So–not what badgers do, but what some people do to them.
Comment from Can’t Hark My Cry
Time: October 7, 2015, 3:56 pm
For your listening pleasure next Badger Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaTUrZpJis0
[and the lyrics, in case anyone has trouble with the sound quality: http://www.jezlowe.com/lyrics/the-big-fear/ ]
Comment from Pupster
Time: October 7, 2015, 10:14 pm
Well, to be fair Wolfus, your average Wolverine has the mental capacity and short-term memory of a goldfish.
Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: October 7, 2015, 10:32 pm
The short answer, Wolfus Aurelius is not, as the OED says ( pace Can’t Hark), but an observation of badger behaviour. Once they set upon their prey, they never give up. John Clare’s (in)famous poem has it.
There are some very worrying reports of this behavioural characteristic in the published animal studies. All of them are true. Trust me.
Comment from iamfelix
Time: October 8, 2015, 8:18 am
I’m so sorry I missed (Uncle) Badger’s Big Day. I have been fretting about whether I’ll have to walk the picket line if the Unidentified Alien Workforce strikes Chrysler. We have *another* tentative agreement as of midnight – let’s see if this one holds ….
Write a comment
Beware: more than one link in a comment is apt to earn you a trip to the spam filter, where you will remain -- cold, frightened and alone -- until I remember to clean the trap. But, hey, without Akismet, we'd be up to our asses in...well, ass porn, mostly.<< carry me back to ol' virginny