I give the answer to the butterfly game in this video.

A couple things.   First off… I went with the OED and Wedgwood who pointed out that the Dutch synonym boterschijte suggests that the insect was so named due to the appearance of its excrement.   Now, a cursory search on the net has practically EVERYONE quoting 1 source that states that butterflies don’t excrete, thus “that theory must be incorrect”.   BUT.. I dug a little deeper, and I found that some butterflies DO excrete, especially right after metamorphosis.. and their excrement has a clear, sometimes buttery and sometimes bloody looking appearance.

There is one other theory of a tale that people thought butterflies were witches that stole milk and butter in the night.. but it seemed as if people added the butter bit in after the fact, as I think the original was just milk… so I went with the controversial Wedgwood theory :-)

Am I just trying to “stir up the pot”?   Maybe this is one for the MythBusters!

If you’d like to prove me wrong, please do so in the comments below!   :-)

The butterfly game… why the name?