Amy Kane introduces her readers to Schmidt's sting pain index, to whit:
1.8 Bullhorn acacia ant: A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek.
2.0 Bald-faced hornet: Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.
2.0 Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine W. C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.
3.0 Red harvester ant: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail.
3.0 Paper wasp: Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.
4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch rusty nail in your heel.
Amy claims that fire ants are worse than Schmidt indicates on his scale - I just hope never to find out (a good reason to stay out of Texas it seems).
i have a friend who was got by fire ants once, once was enough, not an experience he would choose to repeat!
Posted by: bod | October 31, 2009 at 08:47 AM