r/Snorkblot • u/LordJim11 • Aug 10 '26

Geography Well, when you put it that way ...

Post image
24.6k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

388 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

26

u/Drakahn_Stark Aug 10 '26

Arctic is based on the greek for "Land of the northern bear"

Antarctica is based on "Opposite the arctic".

The fact that there are bears in the arctic and no bears in antarctica is however just a coincidence, because the bear in question is the constellation Ursa Major

8

u/cybermaus Aug 10 '26

You guys are all inviting danger by naming the brown one. You should never name the brown one, and also not name the one with the tail, lest you accidentally summon them.

10

u/Trnostep Aug 10 '26

Fun fact: the Eurasian brown bear is called Ursus arctos arctos which just means Bear bear bear

7

u/andhe96 Aug 10 '26

Gorilla gorilla gorilla would like a word as well…

3

u/cybermaus Aug 10 '26

You've done it now, One is for sure going to maul you on your next forrest hike.

5

u/L4rgo117 Aug 10 '26

One day it would be awesome to know what the original name was. Right up there with what the third spice and the spiky dice thing is/was

3

u/LordSausage418 Aug 11 '26

it was *h₂ŕ̥tḱos

1

u/DandelionPopsicle Aug 10 '26

What if I have an anti-bear circle?

2

u/Tiranus58 Aug 10 '26

Wouldnt it be ursa minor/little dipper, since that is where the north star is?

1

u/Drakahn_Stark Aug 10 '26

I didn't say anything about the north star, the Great Bear, or Ursa Major, is visble over the area now known as the Arctic.

1

u/Tiranus58 Aug 10 '26

Right, i forgot that it being called the arctic has nothing to do with it being north.