Flutterby

"Did you know that the butterfly use to be called a flutterby and then the syllables got mixed?"

This was child-me's first collected fact, that Made Sense of the World.

Nothing about a butterfly ever screamed butter.
Everything about it suggested flutter.

This explanation fitted and with a great sense of Everything is Right with the World I would repeat this fact. For decades.

Did you know, that butterfly derives from the old English butorflēoge. And that it means... butter-fly. And that languages close to English use different words.

Did you know, that explanations that fit perfectly will let the messy truth flutter by?