During World War II, the large bombs were deployed against Britain with devastating effect before countermeasures were developed that made the bomb planes essentially obsolete. Long before we were afraid of drone aircraft zooming silently overhead, there was were V-1 flying bombs, otherwise known as “doodlebugs.” This Nazi missile looked like a small plane, but inside was nothing but machinery and death. It seems to be a much more affectionate nickname today. However, as the technology progressed, and more reliable methods of finding underground oil actually emerged, doodlebuggers came to mean people who head out into the wild and use actual methods (usually seismic mapping) to try natural resources trapped underground. The snake oil salesmen who peddled such devices came to be known as doodlebuggers. Dating back to 1940s America, the a “doodlebug” initially referred to devices that were said to be able to locate oil deposits, although in in the day, they were mainly just scams as miraculous oil detecting technology did not actually exist. This usage of doodlebug actually started as an insult but seems to have been coopted as an affectionate name for those bold souls who head out in search of black gold.

Someone in the business, reputable and otherwise, of locating oil depositsĭoodlebugging was once pretty close to dowsing for water. While ant lions are the most well known as doodlebugs, the term has also been used to describe other insects like pill bugs and some beetles, although this seems to be earned simply thanks to how goofy the nickname sounds.ģ. When the (frankly kind of scary-looking) ants move through the sand, their big butts drag behind them, leaving behind scribbly little trails. These squat little bugs, who mostly live in loose sand where they create pit traps, earned their goofy nicknames not because they are thought to be stupid, but instead because of their unintentional drawings. Doodlebugs, as they refer to an actual creature are usually associated with ant lions in their larval form. The other most frequently used meaning of doodlebug is probably as a description of an actual insect.

The term “doodlebug” seems to have arisen in 1800s, initially meant to once again mean, “idiot.” Today, the term has evolved to describe someone who incessantly draws.ĭoodlebug seems like a pretty cute name for this monster. Over the next couple of centuries it increasingly came to be used as a verb meaning to waste or fritter away time, and it wasn’t until the mid-20th century that it seems to have taken on the specific association with drawing and scribbling. The term “doodle” actually dates back to the 17th century when it was used as a pejorative to describe simpletons. Just look at this doodlebug… (Photo: Library of Congress/Wikipedia) So what exactly is a doodlebug? All of these things. At this point, though, the word can be used for any number of meanings from someone who simply likes to draw, to a person who wastes all sorts of time. “Doodlebug” is one of those quaint old terms that seems to have been around forever, and crops up in the news repeatedly: this past year saw the discovery of an orphaned kangaroo by that name and deep dive on the actual insect. A doodlebug is much more than just a bug.

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