What do you call snail locomotion?
(Walking is obviously not right. Slithering is closer. Sliming?)
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October 3rd, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I generally call it crawling, or inching.
Though, what’s wrong with slithering?
October 3rd, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I would say ‘inching’.
Wiki and EB both use the term ‘crawling’.
October 3rd, 2009 at 6:13 pm
What’s wrong with “snail locomotion”?
In Germany, snails crawl; though that’s technically not correct. In English I’d probably use “creep” or describe the action using the generic “move”.
October 3rd, 2009 at 6:13 pm
O snail
Climb Mount Fuji,
But slowly, slowly!
Kobayashi Issa (c. 1810)
October 3rd, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I studied snails for my master’s degree. Most snails crawl, and some swim. Crawling can be accomplished by either ciliary beating or muscular contractions, depending on the species.
October 3rd, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Ruffling?
a la Sea Slugs
October 3rd, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Snails don’t move at all. The rest of the world moves around them and they just look like they are moving.
October 3rd, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Sliding might be the correct terms, since the snail moves all at once as opposed to an inch by inch motion with each piece of its foot.
October 3rd, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I hear & use “crawling” the most, I think, but prefer “oozing”
October 3rd, 2009 at 8:46 pm
let’s get inventive. what about ‘snailing’?
October 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
When beat poet Michael McClure was in residence
at UCSC–whose mascot is the (snail-related) banana
slug he composed a poem in its honor:
“When the slug brakes
he leaves a skid mark
of pearls.”
October 4th, 2009 at 2:08 am
Slocomotion?
October 4th, 2009 at 2:27 am
well, when people walk on their two feet, they are pedestrians. So when a snail travels on its one false foot, it should be a psuedo-podostrian, or podostrian for short: making the action verb podostrating
October 4th, 2009 at 2:32 am
Slithing? Or maybe that’s more what toves do, whatever they are.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:37 am
“‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe”, so presumably a snail slithies?
October 4th, 2009 at 7:44 am
edging?
October 4th, 2009 at 8:14 am
I think snails should ‘sashay’
October 4th, 2009 at 8:25 am
Wriggle.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:15 am
“Crawl” is indeed the most widely-accepted word used to describe snail locomotion.
But I’m no fan of dogmatic adherence to outdated or deceptive terminology, so for your consideration, please allow me suggest the more contemporary “goo surfing”.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:36 am
What do you call snail locomotion?
Moving in Bangalore traffic?
October 4th, 2009 at 10:53 am
You people know nothing. Obviously its called snailing. I snail, I snailed and I have snailed.
Easy easy.
October 4th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Depending on how pompous you want to be…
Corporis lubricus motus
or
bioviscous motion?
or like a snake…
slither.
October 4th, 2009 at 11:20 am
I’d like to combine “snail” with “oozing,” but that would just create “snoozing,” which clearly doesn’t work. I suppose I’ll just have to vote for “oozing” then.
October 4th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Wee, word fight!
But yes, I think it would be “to snail”. In danish it is!
But in biology I just think we use the term “moves”.
As a matter of fact it is the contractions of many small muscles in the foot, together with the slimy and cili rich surface that makes the movement possible.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Tsk, tsk, Per. Learn your irregular verbs.
It’s I snail, I snole, I have snillen.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
This may be one of my favorite comment threads of all time.
Y’all are awesome.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Snudging.
October 4th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Interview a snail.
Claire
October 4th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Gliding
October 4th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
snailin’ works. or how about “inching on slime”, or slimeching?
October 4th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I’m with Marilyn — see http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/6210/anat.htm
October 4th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
I think they just proceed.
October 5th, 2009 at 5:11 am
What do you call snail locomotion?
Slow.
October 5th, 2009 at 7:02 am
What, no portmanteaus?
Snawling?
Slailing?
In fact, slugs also move in a similar fashion. So…
Sluwling?
Moggling?
Gooing?
over to you…
October 5th, 2009 at 8:08 am
We call it oozing.
If it’s on garden plants, though, it’s more properly called “Looking for trouble.”
October 5th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
This is what snails do!
October 5th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
It is called pseudoplodding. Maybe their shells look like bobbie’s helmets?
October 5th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
“What do you call snail locomotion?”
Escargoting.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Hopping! Snails only have one foot, right?
October 6th, 2009 at 6:14 am
I’d like snails to usurp please.
October 6th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
I thought it was generally recognized that snails pace.
October 7th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Why not sliding?
@Grad Student,
At the rate snails go, maybe ‘snoozing’ gets the idea across if you accept artistic license? But mainly I just like combining Snail and Oozing.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
In their time frame, autogenerated hydroplaning.
Actually, voting for #25.