Are you afraid of wasps?

It's silly, isn't it? Something so small scaring someone so big? My husband laughs when I tell people I was freaked out by a giant slug the other week. But it wasn't so much the slug itself, just the point going from thinking it was my doggie's excrement to "Oh my god, it has TENTACLES! IT'S MOVING!" I'm not particularly scared of wasps (nor slugs for that matter). I think if you just move away, then it'll be fine.

I did see a bit on killerbees. Those scared me!

Anaphlactic shock? Maybe I don't want to google this. :-)

Are W.A.S.P. afraid of you?

http://img14.imgspot.com/u/07/251/23/waspcirca1984.jpg

Wasps, and pretty much any stinging insect, scare the shit out of me. It's completely irrational, as my wild gesticulations no doubt put me in more danger of being stung, but I just can't help it. It's instinctual. Even the kind and noble Honeybee makes me mentally shriek like a child.

I don't get it, aside from potential shock, which must be a rarity, what the hell could that poor wasp do to you? Sting? Well, yeah, but that's nothing.

http://www.wasps.co.uk/uploads/images/Wasps26697News1.jpg

Unless they are big and mighty!

I think if you're allergic it's okay to go shit nuts.

Well, yes, of course... or slowly walk away. I mean, everyone knows (or should know) that going berserk means that you are you just begging these wasps to sting you.

Not only am I not allergic, but I've been stung a few times by bees and wasps, and am quite aware that it's no biggie.

Every once and awhile I try not to freak out, and it's even worse. I look like I'm being held at gunpoint.

Yeah, I once got out of the shower, put on my boxer shorts and there was a bee in them and it stung me. yuh no biggie.

Eh? Mark my words, today is ILX PHR34KS OUT day.

My gran once had a wasp stung her in her armpit. She went completely batshit, so my mum said, while my mum and grandfather laughed and laughed.

http://www.ottensmeier-us-cars.de/fahrzeuge/killerbee.jpg

Now I'm even more scared of killerbees!

I've never been stung so I horribly afraid of bees and wasps. Why? I've never been stung. Fear of the unknown is the worst.

daddy long-legs
daddy long-legs
daddy long-legs
DADDY LONG-LEGS

(aka crane-flies)

Whatever you do don't listen to those bastards that tell you to stay still and it'll leave you alone. I tried that and the fucker stung me in the lip.

I hate the little bastards. Every time I've tried to eat al fresco this year one of the pricks has tried to get in my mouth or in my eye or something. What I hate even more are the people who shoo them away with the backs of the hands - normally in my direction!

We were holidaying in Greece last year and a giant wasp landed on my plate and chewed off a piece of steak the size of a tic-tac, then flew off with it.

(I don't normally watch insects make off with my dinner but I had finished eating)

It was almost impossible to eat outside due to wasps during the day and mozzies at night.

Flies are horrible this year. You can't go outside without them all over and they're always in the house. blearh.

I've only been stung once but it was on the finger and my hand swelled so much that I couldn't get it through the elastic wrists of my jacket. And it was a long time ago so my memory is fuzzy but I remember the pain and swelling and HOTNESS being extreme -- my hand felt like a radiator as it swelled and swelled and HURT for a day or two. So I don't know exactly what kind of insect it was, but I don't like to take chances.

i am terrified of wasps. i am reduced to a screaming little girl in the presence of one.

the sound of buzzing insects is just...horrifying.

i've never been stung. AND I WANT TO KEEP IT THAT WAY.

american bees are so cute. theyre fluffy!

the wasps aren't, however

no. we have a wasp nest on our roof near the front door so there are always wasps shooting about. theyre ok. they dont seem particularly interested in us.

Daddy Long Legs /= Crane Fly.

Daddy Long Legs is a harmless very spindly spider with a tiny button body and super long legs. Doesn't build a web and wanders around the join of the wall and ceiling a lot, eating smaller bugs.

Crane Fly is aka Mosquito Eater/Mosquito Hawk and looks like a giant mosquito but, as its name implies, actually preys on them and doesn't bite people. Likes that same wall/ceiling realm as the Daddy Long Legs.

They are sorta similar in their spindliness and in that they both look like something you should be afraid of, but are actually an ally.

Mosquito Eaters are the craziest fucking things in the entire world. "I eat myself in 1:12 scale." We have geckos in our house that eat cockroaches! Yay! Mosquito eaters are around too, but they're not very endearing (they stay outside, fortunately).

The wasp is WONDERFUL because it makes gorgeous tessellated houses out of its own spit and chewed-up garbage. Like most living things, they only attack when they are convinced they will die otherwise. Unlike the bee, which DOES die after one sting (here is where I cry for a moment and then wipe my eyes off with tissue and resume), the wasp can sting as many times as it goddamn wants. So, to me, the question is: what is scarier, the wasp or the bee? I would say the wasp.

When you get down to the heart of it, aren't we all just really afraid of being stung on the pupil? That terrifies me, the thought of a stinger, right in the open eye.

Before I found out the bee dies when it must sting someone to protect its peers (so sad), my goal was to be a Bee Charmer. I was in fourth grade and I'd just seen "Fried Green Tomatoes," a movie from which I remember two things: they had to look at their own vaginas (big wtf at the time) and that someone was a BEE CHARMER. They could totally chill with the bees! The bees just danced around with their fluffy pollen spats, all happy to see you and not afraid you would make them DIE. It sounded like the best thing in the world. So for about two weeks during recess, I would look for dandelions with bees on them, and try to befriend the bees by petting them. I got stung at least once a day until I decided the bee charming gene was highly recessive.

Daddy Long Legs are totally Crane Flies to Britishers! I had an argument about this when I lived in London. Same day I had an argument about bleachers and the wisdom of sitting on them.

Sorry To Bother, But Might You Have An EpiPen I Can Use Immediately?

I'm still suffering from multiple stings on my posterior and back after getting attacked by a swarm of the bastards yesterday. I'm not going to be kind to any of these belligerent motherfuckers ever again and will find a good swatter on e-bay today. They are going to be so fucked if they fly into my house ever again.

I purchased this mini tennis racket shaped contraption called The Executioner. It's transformer steps up two AA batteries to 3000 volts and instant death to wasps apparently. Only it doesn't work, it just stuns the bastards for a few moments and then they get up again even radger than before. I probably need to chill a bit, but I have developed a real visceral revulsion for wasps and genuinely panic when they come near me. There is a nest somewhere in my garden that has barely bothered me all summer, but now I notice every one of them. I wouldn't last 5 minutes in a hot climate region in my current state.