Names
In the southwestern United States, a dust devil is sometimes called a "dancing devil", "dirt devil". In Death Valley, California, it may be called a "sand auger" or a "dust whirl".
The Navajo refer to them as chiindii, ghosts or spirits of dead Navajos. If a chindi spins clockwise, it is said to be a good spirit; if it spins counterclockwise, it is said to be a bad spirit.
The Australian English term "willy-willy" or "whirly-whirly" is thought to derive from Yindjibarndi or a neighbouring language. In Aboriginal myths, willy willies represent spirit forms. They are often quite scary spirits, and parents may warn their children that if they misbehave, a spirit will emerge from the spinning vortex of dirt and chastise them. There is a story of the origin of the brolga in which a bad spirit descends from the sky and captures the young being and abducts her by taking the form of a willy-willy.
In Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, and Jordan, they often reach hundreds of metres in height and are referred to as djin ("genies" or "devils").
Egypt has its fasset el 'afreet, or "ghost's wind". In Iran, this kind of wind is usually called "Gerd Baad", or "round wind".
Among the Kikuyu of Kenya, the dust devil is known as ngoma cia aka, meaning "women's devil/demon".
In Brazil, a dust devil is called redemoinho after moinho de vento ("windmill"). In some traditions, it contains a dancing Saci. Also in Portugal known locally as remoinho (translated to continuous rotation).
In the US, when they occur in cities or urban scenes, they are typically called "Nevada tornadoes" or "Chicago tornadoes" because of Chicago's reputation for wind, despite dust devils being rare in Chicago.
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