Althouse: "Hot and smoky, almost irreverent"/"Distinctly bitter aftertaste"/"Bold and unrelenting."

May 22, 2012

"Hot and smoky, almost irreverent"/"Distinctly bitter aftertaste"/"Bold and unrelenting."

Entomologist samples 150 insect stings, describes them, and ranks them.

Do you think the worst is a bee, a hornet, a wasp, or an ant?

It's an ant!

20 comments:

traditionalguy said...: I knew it. Ants in your pants is a true crisis.

Sitting on an ant colony can form a life timememory in an 8 year old boy.

To this day I hate the smell of formic acid. It's Them!; 5/22/12, 4:19 PM
chickelit said...: The toxin in that ant is even shaped like an arrow--a "V"-shape

Wicked; 5/22/12, 4:20 PM
Bob said...: As Billy Connolly will tell you, though, the Stonefish is the worst pain known to man.; 5/22/12, 4:20 PM
ndspinelli said...: When we brought our 2 year old adopted son home from Colombia he was terrified of ants. We didn't understand until a guy I know who does biz in South America told me about these ants mentioned in the article. He eventually learned we have fairly friendly ants here in Wi.; 5/22/12, 4:21 PM
traditionalguy said...: And yellow jackets are swarmers who arise from hole in the dirt nests that are accidentally stood upon and then chase you down as fast as you run.

But the Bulldogs have won the "Just Plain Hate" annual game too often of late.; 5/22/12, 4:24 PM
ndspinelli said...: Bob, Great link to Connolly. If anyone has had a kidney stone they know pain. An old curmudgeonly nurse told me when I was in the ER that she has empathy for me w/ a kidney stone because now I know the pain of chilbirth. She was in charge of the Demerol so I just nodded. The pain is so extreme you can't even think.; 5/22/12, 4:29 PM
ricpic said...: Google Leinengin Versus The Ants by Carl Stephenson. Then read it. Absolutely riveting.; 5/22/12, 5:06 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @ricpic,

Leinengin was made into a movie in 1954.

The short story's better.

I've heard tell that the worst pain of all is the sting of the irukandji jellyfish. And they're teeny,tiny little things, too.; 5/22/12, 5:40 PM
Big Mike said...: I'm going to guess velvet ants (which are a wingless form of wasp), with the Japanese giant hornet as my second choice.

FWIW wikipedia informs me that only the female velvet ant is actually wingless, but that same wikipedia article hints at why they're my first guess - they're called the "cow killer."

Now I'm going to link to the article and see whether I was right.; 5/22/12, 5:49 PM
bagoh20 said...: Being rejected at 2am is the worst sting of all.; 5/22/12, 5:51 PM
Big Mike said...: Huh. Neither of my choices made the list. That Japanese giant hornet has a stinger that is a full quarter inch long. Maybe it's not as bad as a tarantula hawk, but I saw a show on PBS where they claimed the giant hornet kills dozens of Japanese people each year.; 5/22/12, 6:01 PM
jimbino said...: The worst for me was a scorpion, but of course it isn't an insect.; 5/22/12, 6:56 PM
Darcy said...: His description of the fire ant bite seems pretty mild compared to what I experienced. And I guess it's pretty common to be bitten by several all at once like I was, so there's that loveliness as well. The blisters the bites produce are not painless, either.

Still, I'll happily trust rather than attempt to verify. ;-); 5/22/12, 7:26 PM
rhhardin said...: Baby Robins out exploring won't even try ants.; 5/22/12, 7:33 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I almost passed out one time trying to rush a big turd.

I don't know.. I felt that if I let it out at a regular pace I would just be prolonging the pain.

Little did I know..; 5/22/12, 7:53 PM
Mark said...: Just the phrase "Japanese giant hornet" frightens me beyond the capacity for rational thought.; 5/22/12, 7:59 PM
Known Unknown said...: I just kneeled on an ant hill while doing yardwork on Sunday. A bunch of them stung me and it hurt for a good 15 minutes. The patch is still red and itchy tonight.; 5/22/12, 8:21 PM
ken in tx said...: I have a bee hive. Normally I am not troubled much by bee stings. However, Sunday I was stung on the knuckle of my left hand and my hand is still swollen up like a balloon. My wife, who is a doctor, says I am becoming sensitized to bee stings and the next one will be worse. This is not something I look forward to. I like watching the bees.; 5/22/12, 8:55 PM
JAL said...: I could have told you that. (Ant.); 5/22/12, 9:16 PM
Astro said...: My experience is the the Fire Ant sting was way worse than a Honeybee sting. The Fire Ant stings left sore welts that lasted a week or more.
But I think the Yellow Jacket sting is that much again worse than the Fire Ant. My wife had been stung by both and had the same reaction to Fire Ant stings. But on her the Yellow Jacket sting was a huge red burning sore that lasted 3 weeks and still looked bruised after a month.; 5/23/12, 7:46 AM