• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

bobhowler moths

celia

celia

master brummie
a few days ago my hubby told me a child hood memory he has about moths and why he dosent like them to this day

my hubby recalls as a small boy climbing the stairs to go to bed one night.
A very large hairy moth was on the landing wall.
It frightened him so much he wouldnt go to bed and he had to get his dad to remove the moth before he would even think about going up the stairs.

anyways he remembers his dad says it a "bob howler moth"
and hubby asked me to look it up on the net for said moth
half an hour later i told him there was no such thing as a bob howler moth and what he proberly saw was a privite moth one of the largest moths in the uk
bob howler moths is a slang brummie word for big hairy moths but hubby wont have it and insists that the moth he saw was called a bob howler

please can someone put him or me straight
 
my mom used to call them (what i thought she said) barbowlers. i think it is just a brummie word for a large moth
 
Celia I was only talking about this with my brother who asked if I remember dad saying butterflies were bobhowlers. Jean.
 
I still use the term 'bob-howler' for big moths ......I've often wondered if it referred to their movement: bobbing about etc. Or, could the 'howler' part originally have been 'bowler' - again, a term for a certain type of movement - 'bowling', or 'booling' about ....a 'bob-bowler/booler' perhaps?
 
Wonder if the same Bob is a Bobbydazzler?. Will have to think of other words with Bobby before it. Jean.
 
i had never heard of big moths being called bob howlers and im a brummie lol
but hubby swore black was blue that the big hairy moth he saw as a kid was called a bob howler
and wont have it that its a brummie word for a big hairy moth
 
I googled it Celia and it does refer to moths. My problem maybe as a child I didn't know the difference between a moth and a butterfly. I always remember my dad calling me to look at the bobhowlers. Jean.
 
Hi Celia: We called the moths bobowlers. Quite frightening as they tend to appear at dusk. If you Google
"Bobowler moths" there are several links. Looks like the word comes from Middle English according to Collin's dictionary. I have found several of them this summer in my greenhouse. They always scare me.
 
I recall seeing a huge moth on one of the platforms on New Street station, i made a point of bringing other peoples attention to it.

To be honest i thought it was dead until it fluttered and very slowly flew off.

I believe it was a giant hawkshead or something similar.

Never seen one since....
 
I always thought all great big moths were called bobowlers - they were in the 60's when I was a kid, and I've used the expression ever since

apart from that hammer house of horror where Wanda Ventham is a very big hairy moth.... I didn't think she counted!

Brian
 
I am glad that I am not the only one that is scared stiff of these moths... As a child I used to get my head under the sheets if one was in the bedroom....when I surfaced I was scared in case it was sitting looking at me!! I could hear it beating its wings on the window. I have always called them Bobby Owlers. Georgie
 
I was in the Harbour the other night and a gentleman hit this moth that was by me thinking I might me scarred and was quite surprised when I picked it up not too worse for ware and put him outside on a bush. Jean.
 
A "bobowler" cornered me in the bathroom the other night. It came in through the bathroom window which was open and it must have been drawn to the light. It was the middle of the night and I had to escape from behind the loo to get away from it as for some reason it decided to keep on flying at me. We always put flies, moths or anything else that might get into the house. outside after we have captured. In Canada all the house windows have mesh screens but our bathroom window's screen has been gone for years. The flies come in through open doors same as the little spiders.
I remember the caravan holidays we had in Devon, Cornwall and Wales years ago. The "bobowlers" loved those Calor gas flame lights. Many screams and Dad was kept busy getting the moths out.
 
We (my Mother, Sister and myself) always called the big hairy moths Bob Howlers and I still do. Not sure where we got the name from as my Mother was from Manchester and my Father (never knew him as he ran away when I was 6 months old) was from London.
 
the only realy big moth i have seen was a elephant hawk moth a few years ago
it was on a plant and i picked it up ever so gentaly to show my hubby
i have never seen him move so quick lol
when i asked him why he ran he said thats one hell of a big moth
told him they dont bite or sting
he said i dont care its big and hairy thats enough for me

even if we get a moth or a butterfly or a spide in the bathroom he calls me to get them out lol big girls blouse
 
Well, that means I'm definitely a true Brummie then cos I've always known em as 'Bobhowlers'.....my Mom & Dad still use that term today for large moths bless em.
 
Interesting to see how people are spelling it - my nan always used the name for big moths but I always thought it was bob-owler (obviously I was confused by the dropped 'H' ;) )
 
Yep, Bobowlers were any large moth or butterfly when we were kids in the late 40's, early 50's. Still use it and we're posh because we have a downstairs lavvy....INSIDE the house!
 
Most frequent saying using the word from my memory - He was Drunk (more likely to sub the equivalent P word) as a bobowler. Perfectly describes the strange eccentric flight pattern of large moths and butterflies or the gait of my dad coming home from the Richmond most nights....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top