Platypus Puggles

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Eric from Menlo Park, California. Thanks for taking my call.

Hi, Eric. How are you?

Hi, Eric. What’s up?

I’m doing very well.

Well, in the spirit of finding names for baby animals that are as adorable as they are, I’ve come across and been using the word puggle to describe baby monotremes, monotremes being that strange and small group of mammals that lay eggs and includes a platypus and echidna.

But I’ve never been able to find the word puggle in any authoritative source, ranging from the OED to Miriam Webster.

And I’d love to know if this word is one that would be generally understood and respected.

Coming from someone like myself, I’m a wildlife biologist, who would be expected to use words related to wildlife correctly.

So puggle, this is for baby platypuses, or is it platypi? How do you say that?

Either one would work. Platypuses or platypi and echidnas. Monotremes being the collective name for both of them.

Right. And so puggle, that’s P-U-G-G-L-E.

Yeah.

And where did you pick this up?

I found it reading somewhere on the Internet some place.

Oh, no, the Internet.

Yes, indeed.

The Internet.

So you’re telling us you’ve…

I say that jokingly.

So your question is, what’s the deal with puggle? Can you safely use it? And where does it come from? That sort of thing, right?

Yeah, yeah.

And, you know, I think one of the problems has also been that some places that, as I’ve been trying to research it, say that it only applies to echidnas. Others say that it applies only to platypi, and some say, oh, it applies to all monotremes.

But I figured that like the animals that are restricted to Australia and New Guinea, that perhaps the best usage is also restricted to those areas as well.

That’s the fair analysis.

You’re saying that puggle probably is best restricted to Australia, and I would agree with that.

And here’s why. One of the dictionaries that you probably didn’t check is the Macquarie Dictionary.

Yeah, no.

This is an Australian dictionary, and if you look up puggle in there, it explains that the word puggle comes from a brand name of stuffed animals or plush toys, as you might say.

And puggle was a brand, and then because the baby monotremes, the baby platypuses, the baby hedgehogs, do they fit in there? What else are in there?

Anteaters or something like that?

Anteaters or something like that? Spiny anteaters.

Spiny anteaters.

Right.

Because the babies look like these plush animals, then the Australian scientists began to call the real animals after the plush animals, after the stuffed toys.

And so you don’t find this term anywhere outside of that region of the world.

And if you use it in the United States, most people are going to think that you mean a cross between a pug and a beagle.

Right, right. I’ve seen that usage.

But they’re not as cute as a little baby platypus.

They are very cute.

In my opinion.

Well, I think you’re best to stick with something like fledgling monotreme or something like that.

Fledgling monotreme.

Oh, come on.

Come on.

Puggle is a great word.

I mean, maybe Linnaeus didn’t come up with puggle, but I like it.

They need a word for that.

We have words for all other little baby animals.

Are they taking you seriously when you use it, Eric?

Well, I’m using it in non-scientific arenas usually, but I’d like to still be respected as a wildlife biologist and not be misusing any words.

But I really do want to use it.

Well, look, if you think that you have the authority or can muster the courage to carry off the word puggle, then go with our blessing.

Yeah.

You’re going to be forging in the way for the word puggle to enter the mainstream scientific discourse in the United States.

But you’re going to be out there on your own.

You’re going to be alone on the frontier of the word puggle in the United States.

Yeah, so you think it’s not as well-known or respected?

It isn’t.

Very few people in the United States are going to know this, even within the scientific community.

If they do know it in the scientific or biological community, it’s going to be as a foreignism or an Australian curiosity.

Yeah, I would agree with that, Eric, but you would be great fun at parties.

You know, if I tell somebody I work with puggles.

Well, thank you.

I hope we’ve helped a little bit, Eric.

I would take a look up on Google Images or something, and then I think you won’t be able to help yourself, but refer to them because they are pretty cute.

They are so cute.

Yeah.

Well, thank you guys so much for your time.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you, Eric.

All righty.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

I’m heading to Google now.

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