Nanci
Alien Lover
A friend sent me this and it reminded me of attempts to quantify a snake bite.
(Of this list, I've experienced the fire ant, yellow jacket, honey bee and paper wasp.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_Sting_Pain_Index
The Justin O. Schmidt Pain Index is a colorful entomologist's attempt
to map out the relative ouchiness of different bug-stings. The
definitions -- from a man who was stung many, many times -- are
hilarious:
* 1.0 Sweat bee: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has
singed a single hair on your arm.
* 1.2 Fire ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a
shag carpet & reaching for the light switch.
* 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 WC
Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.
* 2.x Honey bee and European hornet.
* 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 Pepsis wasp: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running
hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath (if you get stung
by one you might as well lie down and scream).
* 4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over
flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel.
there's a nice annotated pain scale at http://discovermagazine.com/ 2003/jun/featstung/ along with Dr. Schmidt's story.
Nanci
(Of this list, I've experienced the fire ant, yellow jacket, honey bee and paper wasp.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_Sting_Pain_Index
The Justin O. Schmidt Pain Index is a colorful entomologist's attempt
to map out the relative ouchiness of different bug-stings. The
definitions -- from a man who was stung many, many times -- are
hilarious:
* 1.0 Sweat bee: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has
singed a single hair on your arm.
* 1.2 Fire ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a
shag carpet & reaching for the light switch.
* 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 WC
Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.
* 2.x Honey bee and European hornet.
* 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 Pepsis wasp: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running
hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath (if you get stung
by one you might as well lie down and scream).
* 4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over
flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel.
there's a nice annotated pain scale at http://discovermagazine.com/ 2003/jun/featstung/ along with Dr. Schmidt's story.
Nanci