Friday's Unscientific Poll: Tiny bloodsucking harbingers of doom

[nanila]

Poll #17561 Mosquitoes v Midges

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 41

View Respondents

I struggle hardest to muster a kindly response to

View Answers

Mosquitoes
28 (68.3%)

Midges
13 (31.7%)

This post brought to you by warm, humid, stifling summertime conditions in the Northern Hemisphere.

Comments

[doccy]

Option 3: People that fail to put ticky boxes in questionnaires

*ticks his own home-made ticky box*

;)

[nanila]

What would be next to your home-made ticky box in this instance?

[doccy]

Damn you and your over-complicated questions! *ahem*

Honestly? Just the word "Ticky".

*starts looking for a post-it notes to he can properly adorn his computer*

[doccy]

OH WAIT Can I change my answer to "Ticks"? Because that might amuse me a little too much. :D

[ceb]

*gold star*

[doccy]

GOLD STAAAAAAAR!!! *runs around in circles of delight*

[ceb]

Ooh, is that Dr G? You have a very distinctive T mug :-)

[doccy]

The artwork is indeed Dr G, but I myself am not :D To cut a long story short, we share a brace of parents ;)

[ceb]

I am delighted to discover you exist and are as lovely as Dr G :-)

[antisoppist]

Midges. I have spent a lot of time in the forests of northern Scandinavia...

[nanila]

I grew up in the tropics, so mosquitoes are able to tap into not only my blood supply, but a very long history of loathing and horror.

[clanwilliam]

Midges. Especially if you include blackflies. Cos one of those little buggers nearly killed me.

I appreciate that mozzies are technically worse, but I don't encounter them much.

[recessional]

If the midges include black flies, the latter. Some midges are nowhere near as bad as black flies, in which case mosquitos (at least the far-north versions), but, well: BLACK FLIES.

[left_turns]

It is so weird to me to see a copyright date of 1991 on that film, because I clearly remember being terrified by it as a young child, but... I was in middle school in 1991.

[nanila]

For the purposes of the Unscientific Poll, black flies are definitely included in the Midges category.

[redsixwing]

Ticks. /o\

And deer flies. I hate those little bloodsuckers. At least mosquitoes have the decency to numb the bite site, instead of making you feel like you've received an unexpected electric shock.

[doccy]

Oh true! Ticks! Especially down here, living near sheep, where any tick might be carrying Lyme disease...

[recessional]

*checks to see if deerflies are horseflies* . . . yep. I HATE them.

[clanwilliam]

Holy crap. I had one commit suicide while diving down my cleavage. It hurt like hell, but a friend of mine cheered me immensely by going "what a way to die".

I remember a "nature" sanctuary in Cornwall where the horse and I were both visibly bleeding as we left - me through my breeches. Horseflies are evil, horrific thibgs.

[nanila]

I received a horsefly (deer fly) bite just last weekend. For two days afterward, my left forearm looked like Popeye's. It has taken an entire week to stop itching. ARGH.

[redsixwing]

Oh ow!
I'm sorry you got bitten. Those things are dreadful.

[lilly_c]

Midges are a nightmare and I rarely encountered them until I moved to Scotland.

[nanila]

Keeping them out of anyplace seems to be impossible.

[quoththeravyn]

Midges may be annoying, but they don't* carry diseases like malaria, yellow fever, dengue, etc. etc. etc.

*(as far as I know. I am neither an entomologist nor an epidemiologist)

[nanila]

This is true in temperate regions but I think not in the tropics. :/

[left_turns]

Midges haven't been so much a problem anywhere I've lived, even in Wisconsin. I don't know, maybe Madison is too urban for them.

I just came back from Calgary, though, and I am amazed at the size of Canadian mountain mosquitos, though.

[recessional]

They get even bigger as you go farther north!

Also care way less about making sure their bites don't HURT. It's remarkable.

[left_turns]

I believe it! It was only a high of about 65 F most of the weekend so I wasn't really expecting it to be buggy at all. But I'm up at Lake Louise with my folks, just watching the clouds over the mountains, and suddenly mosquitoes the size of bees!

[nanila]

I am horrified at the thought of gigantic mountain mosquitoes.

[ironed_orchid]

Do midges even make a noise?

I would cheerfully wipe out all mosquitoes and trust various bird and fish populations to find something else they can eat.

[nanila]

No, I don't think they do. Maybe that's why I resent them less. That special mosquito whine is one of the noises I loathe most.

[chickenfeet]

I'm in the black fly camp on this one. Truly evil little buggers.

[nanila]

I don't think I've encountered them before. I shall count this as a blessing.

[chickenfeet]

They are awful. Said to be able to send herds of caribou mad. I recall with horror trying to cook a meal while they crawled up my nose and into my eyes and mouth. Urrgh.