The Syrian Arabic word for a hamster is أبو جراب (abu jrab), where jrab refers to a pouch/saddlebag/tote. And abu often means “father of,” but can also function as a general honorific (like “mister”). So it’s not too big a stretch to say the Syrian Arabic word for a hamster means “Mister Saddlebags”
Comments
8. Cuddle mouse (Afrikaans)
7. Storehouse mouse (Mandarin)
6. Grain piglet (old Swabian German)
5. Earth wolf (Silesian)
4. Squawker (old Polish)
3. One who snores (Serbian)
2. Fat cheeks (Welsh)
1. Screeching rat (Turkish)
Then I read:
The German word "Hamsterkauf" (literally "hamster buy") is used to describe the panic buying of goods
* which, btw, is also the title of my last book...
#WorldHamsterDay
https://bsky.app/profile/sarahejoyal.bsky.social/post/3lgusdtawzk2x
"Airmouse - Is a bat"
Spotted at the Corfe Castle Town Museum, Dorset, UK
"Do you speak Dorset?"
See alt-text for descriptions
Including "Dumbledore" - an old Dorset word for a bumble bee, before Harry Potter
https://corfecastletowntrust.co.uk/the-museum/
I like it.
Hammy: (n) Short for hamster
Etymology: formulated by a 6-year-old in 1988
Also me: Looks at thighs
Pol Pot
Genghis
Mao Tse Tung
(From the Haywain)
near the top.
😂
"Am not mithuh thaddlebags"
Yes, no?
Mister Pouches more
(Cuteness Rage)
I read one long ago that the only wild Syrian hamsters were found as a single colony and that was back in the 1950s when I read that. Have they found any more sense because all the hamsters in existence came from that colony that was collected. God at work !’
The additional E is only for the Dutch word.
Other than that, correct.
anyone else out there remember the Hampster (sic) Dance 1999?
That seems hard
There’s some erasure in that, though.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-untold-story-of-the-hamster-aka-mr-saddlebags-1223774/
No animal had to suffer for this picture.
Kewis, khee tier must fer tiise pilt layte .
Where:
Boch = cheeks
Dew = fat.
So, hamster is 'fat cheeks' in Welsh.
They are so precious! 🥹❤️