Darmok wrote:
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal." (Matthew 6.19)
Doesn't work if you substitute "butterflies."
Interesting, I looked into the Arabic version of that:
مت 6 :19 لا تكنزوا لكم كنوزا على الارض حيث يفسد السوس و الصدا و حيث ينقب السارقون و يسرقون
There's no word of 'moth' in this sentence, it's 'Sous' which means small beetles / weevils ......
and now in French:
"19 Ne vous amassez pas des trésors sur la terre, où la teigne et la rouille détruisent, et où les voleurs percent et dérobent;"
There's no "Moth" here either nor "night butterfly" but instead of it there's the "la teigne" which means a kind of skin disease, it's not even an insect.
So aha!! That's the source of your irrational hatred for moths, Americans, it's your Bible translation!!
And btw, only very few species of moths ' larvaes eat clothes. The ones that evolved among human habitas.
Northern Europeans likely wear more wool and mohair than people on the Mediterranean.
That, and the king James bible thing.
Mothra was acting in self-defense, and isn't aggressive.