Reply to: Wasps

[PRC1964]

They really don't like you much, do they?

On the contrary, they seem to like him a lot.

[darmstadt]

Apart from yesterday when I was stung (just casually walking down the street

- my missus always says not flap about when a wasp comes so one day while sitting on the bus while a wasp buzzed around I took her advice and sat still. The b'stard flew over and stung me on the neck

- sitting in the front room there was a wasp flying about and I went searching for something to smack it with. The sound disappeared and then re-appeared in the vicinity of my knee but not so loud. The bugger had flown up my trouser leg and stung me on the back of the knee before I could drop my keks

- riding my motorbike one flew between the gap of my helmet and my jacket and proceeded to continue downwards. I braked, dropped the bike and attempted to get my jacket off but too late. It stung me on my belly

Even being bitten by a wild dog and having 15 injections in my stomach against rabies doesn't give the the pain and agony of a wasp sting.

[Mich the Tester]

Wasps are playing a friendly against Treviso on 22nd August, so if you're in the area I'm sure that'll be an enjoyable afternoon.

[TimberWolf]

Are more people going to die from wasp stings than swine flu?

[darmstadt]

Also when you get stung by a wasp it leaves a pheromone which attracts other wasps so once you're stung, get the sting out quickly and wash the area to get rid of this otherwise you might get stung again, and again, and again...

[Zippy]

As if we haven't got enough to worry about with swine flu.

I hate to be a bore (shut up at the back) but it is incredibly unlikely that you will die of anything interesting. Sorry. If you do you'll go with a smile on Cybermans face. Which is a comfort, I'm sure.

[TimberWolf]

As if we haven't got enough to worry about with swine flu.

[Menelaus]

Is that the one where you can get a mild reaction to a first exposure and on the second your whole body goes into shock and dies?

Nope this'd be the one where you go into VF as a consequence of exposure.

And you die.

[ace00]

........... But I guess the moral of the story is that not all wasps are yellow and black.

No the moral is don't go around man-handling strange brightly colored insects.

I believe the cave-men actually got that one....

[TimberWolf]

You have the added option of anaphylactic shock...

Chap died of that in Pembroke the other day...

Is that the one where you can get a mild reaction to a first exposure and on the second your whole body goes into shock and dies?

[Zippy]

I believe it can be dependant on whether you have drunk any alcohol but I have no personal experience of this.

[xoggoth]

The only reason you lot get stung by waspies and it swells up is because you are not nice to them. You should feed them with jam.

[dang65]

fewer - were you educated under the Tories?

I think you'll find that "fewer" is deprecated in English 2.009. In fact, it is now only used by people who go round "correcting" the far more natural sounding and commonplace "less". Evolution of language before our very eyes.

[OwlHoot]

I was in central Italy many years ago, climbing Monte Tifata (one of the places where Spartacus holed up with his army during the slave revolt).

Anyway, I saw this purple striped critter that looked a bit like a large wasp. Casually I picked it up for a closer look, and out darted a huge sting almost the length of the whole thing, unbelievably long.

Luckily, from the way I was holding the brute, the sting didn't actually pierce my skin. But I guess the moral of the story is that not all wasps are yellow and black.

[TimberWolf]

I only recall having been stung once by a wasp. I stood on one as a kid and it got me between the toes. I recall that my foot swelled up and it would interesting to know if as an adult I would similarly swell up. Does swelling get less as you get older?