Orca or Killer Whale?

[Lucas₇₅₅]

I like the sound of Orca more than Killer Whale.
But I use Killer Whale. It makes so much more sense when watching George Carlin.

 

[Dragonclaw]

Doesn't Orcinus Orca mean Whale from Hell though? It doesn't really make that much difference.

 

[ultraviolet]

Tbh for ages I thought Orcas and Killer Whales were different animals. Then I got older.

 

[ZimD]

Uh hello, they're carnivores. Go sit in a Killer Whale's mouth and tell me they aren't killers.

Killer, at least to me, just sounds like they are a vicious animal, which they aren't. Some animals eat other animals, it doesn't make them a killer. Put a dead cow fried up into a patty in front of me and I'll eat it, but I don't think of myself as a killet.

 

[ultraviolet]

Killer, at least to me, just sounds like they are a vicious animal, which they aren't. Some animals eat other animals, it doesn't make them a killer. Put a dead cow fried up into a patty in front of me and I'll eat it, but I don't think of myself as a killer.

killer–noun
1. a person or thing that kills.
2. killer whale.
3. a device used by a post office for printing cancellations on postage stamps.

How is something that kills something else not a killer? Carnivores kill other animals for food. Besides, they are vicious. You can't escape the fact that they are killers. Call it want you want, but they're still intelligent animals that hunt in packs and eat baby seals.

 

[Old Catch]

How is something that kills something else not a killer? Carnivores kill other animals for food. Besides, they are vicious. You can't escape the fact that they are killers. Call it want you want, but they're still intelligent animals that hunt in packs and eat baby seals.

I think what he means is killing because of a violent nature, not killing to eat. I mean, we don't call ladybugs killer beetles and they do eat aphids. Or something.

Anyway, I'm not so hung up on the 'killer' tag because most things kill. I've even seen horses do it. I just don't like the name because they aren't whales and it bothers me.

 

[ZimD]

I think what he means is killing because of a violent nature, not killing to eat. I mean, we don't call ladybugs killer beetles and they do eat aphids. Or something.

That's what I meant, I just fail at wording when it's one in the morning.

 

[Zennyo Ryūō]

Orca. It sounds more epic, compared to the seemingly evil "killer whale".

 

[opaltiger]

Doesn't Orcinus Orca mean Whale from Hell though? It doesn't really make that much difference.

How would two words obviously deriving from the same root be able to mean two totally unrelated things?

 

[surskitty]

Orca.

 

[Dragonclaw]

How would two words obviously deriving from the same root be able to mean two totally unrelated things?

*shrugs* It's something to do with kill. Or maybe my source was wrong.

Orca comes from the scientific name, Orcinus Orca, which is usually translated as 'demon of the underworld', or something like that. A more literate translation is, 'of or belonging to the kingdom of the dead'.

Okay that one is more likely.