I avoid ads like the plague so the first time I learned about it was in a Reddit thread. I'm American but I never felt less American my whole life. I had no idea what Geico was and why it/they had a mascot. Somebody called it the "Geico lizard" which outraged some Redditors who corrected the OP by telling them repeatedly it was a gecko. When I googled - I had a good laugh. My guess was that it was anime related or maybe something related to a band maybe? I'll never understand how passionate Americans can be about a marketing tool.

[–] emizeko@hexbear.net 12 points 1 year ago

the word for gecko in mandarin 壁虎 (bìhǔ) translates literally to "wall tiger"

[–] CoolerOpposide@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Geckos are literally lizards… what?

[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I suppose at that time the Reddit hivemind thought of geckos as lizards+ due to their special feet, one kind of gecko can vocalize, some (all?) geckos can clean their eyes with their tongue, (etc?). That was years ago but if I'm right - they still think that way.

[–] CoolerOpposide@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah you’re def right and death to reddit

[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

emizeko wrote...

the word for gecko in mandarin 壁虎 (bìhǔ) translates literally to "wall tiger"

Maybe the hivemind is aware of that to so a gecko can't be just a mere "lizard".