Word List # 15, Cricket And Related Concepts

1. FIELD CRICKET: Field crickets are insects of order Orthoptera, subfamily Gryllinae of family Gryllidae. The specimen in the photo above is a Gyrllus Pennsylvanicus which has evolved over millions of years to make its home under refrigerators --mainly in Pennsylvania, but has adapted to cities around the world, even where refrigerators do not occur naturally. The chief occupation of the Field Cricket is to crouch in inaccessible places rubbing its legs together, producing a shrill, piercing, trilling sound that has two important purposes. It attracts mates and is the first step toward advancing family Gryllidae's numbers. Second, it drives the homeowner nuts trying to find the source of the sound, and so provides Gryllinae with endless amusement.



2. CRICKET FIELD: When mate-selection and homeowner unhingement are complete, Field Crickets really do go out into fields. It is at this point that humans take their revenge. Uniformed exterminators will run out onto the cricket field and herd the crickets toward the batsman, whose job it is to bash the crickets with a special cricket bat.



These spectacles are so popular among cricket-hating humans that gigantic stadiums have been built to accommodate the crowds.

3. POLLYANNA: Arguably, we might compare cricket field crowds with all large gatherings of like-minded people and credit the Field Cricket as a powerful unifying force in human coexistence. We might also be justifiably called Pollyannas.



Pollyanna is novel by Eleanor H. Porter published in 1913, now considered a classic of children's literature. Title character's name became synonymous with anyone whose outlook is irrationally rosy. The term was also adopted by social scientists to indicate a largely insupportable domestic arrangement stemming from Pollyanna-like optimism, or Polyandry.



Although Field Crickets have practiced polyandry with great success for eons, human practitioners, like Draupadi with her five husbands (above), appear less than enthusiastic after a much shorter time.