Downvoted for self-censorship
You can't say shit on the internet anymore, or what?
this post was submitted on 30 May 2026
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I used to live in a house with 2 pear trees. I quickly learned to pick up any fallen fruit, because the pear juice would ferment under the skin in the warm summer sun, the yellow jackets would pierce the skin and drink the pear liqueur, and then drunkenly chase me around the yard. Turns out, yellow jackets are belligerent drunks, which is, frankly, not surprising.
Hornets are cool though! They eat very specific pests that nothing else will kill- flies, horse flies, flesh flies, and they catchem mid air, also bark beetles and some other nasty fuckers. They're also pollinators, and did you know they're actually way chiller than honey bees? Honey bees be straight up gangbangers in comparison, they unruly. In most of Europe they're a protected species and you can be fined like A LOT if you get caught killing one. You'll obviously never be caught but still.
Hornets only give a fuck if you're within 5 meters of their nest and then they will let you KNOW they ain't playin'.
Wasps can suck a dick tho.
Nah these guys are chill. They kill all the pests in my garden and don't bother with me at all
Yellow jackets are mean, but don't confuse them with paper wasps which are chill little dudes. They'd rather head bump you to get you away than sting you.
paper wasps are not "chill little dudes"
one of the most painful experiences of my life. a dozen stings on my left hand and for a moment i didn't even know what was happening to me. As painful as a good dose of 220 volts through your arm
i still kept them around though. As a gardener, they're your friends. i stopped using those tools around which they built their hive
When you pass by their hive, they follow your movements. They turn to keep you in sight … one feels them staring 😬
Yea, yellow jackets are bumbling annoyances around anything sweet.
Paper wasps are aggressive bastards who will sting just cause you were in their line of sight.
yellow jackets are ~~bumbling annoyances~~ flying terrorists who are personally offended that you have ~~around~~ anything sweet and would kill you for it if they could.
There, fixed it for you.
My dad calls them flying Ferrari knife-shits. Cause they look fast like a Ferrari but also are shits with knife butts.
I am honor bound to come wasps' defense. They are very cool critters! The vast majority cannot and do not harm humans, and are largely an ecological boon. They prey on cultured crops pests. Some even specifically prey on roaches.
I've lived in paper wasp territory my whole ass life and only been stung twice, and it wasn't even all that bad. Like the pain was gone in a minute tops. And I consistently stick my hand and fingers into unexplored, and frequently inappropriate, areas.
Wasps are bros as much as spiders are. I would argue more so because they actively hunt pests, and are responsible for far less human deaths than spiders.
You just reminded me of this exterminator guy I watch on YouTube who actually collects wasp nests and rehomes them on his property. He says they kill mosquitos and basically nay pest you'd be concerned about.
The aggressive species get fed to his chickens lol.
Edit: I think it's hornet king Link
Wasps are bros as much as spiders are.
Just not bros to spiders. What parasitoid wasps do to spiders/other victims is nearly as nightmarish as what spiders do to their prey. Definitely a match made in hell.
Yeah, the turantula hawk is next level vicious.
Also one of the few that really suck to be stung by.
And I consistently stick my hand and fingers into unexplored, and frequently inappropriate, areas.
... Like... In general, or regarding the paper wasps?
Both, they like building their nests in peculiar places.
Agreed. Cicada killers are like the coolest bug in my area. As a kid I used to imagine that would be my Pokemon
I just wanna wax nostalgic on probably my most beloved pet that could've been a Pokemon.
Y'all may know Furryosa, but she's only been with me for a little under a year. But I had this dog I named "puppy", which my dad tried to fight but I won, from about age 6 until 14. He was a half German Shepherd, half Rottweiler that got dropped off on our doorstep (very small and isolated community, so it was obvious). Homie had the colorations of a Rottweiler with the build of a tall dachshund. We didn't crop anything cause my mom is a good person, so his tail took on its own moniker as the agent of chaos it was. He became male dog aggressive later in life, which wouldn't have been a problem as we had a fenced yard. But other dogs jumped into our fence on occasion and did not meet a ceremonious end.
But then a year or two before he suddenly passed he became best chums with an all white male dog literally half his size that we caught on camera jumping in. I'm not trying to defend Piers Anthony's literal bullshit, but maybe the horse isn't the only thing that's pale.
Edit to add: if y'all wanna know about the badass cat that could only be killed by an alligator, let me know. That fucker dug holes in concrete!
Hey!!! Now, waitaminit!
Those "pieces of shit" do a bang up job of keeping the caterpilars and other pest creepy-crawlies off the fruiting trees.
NGL, have a friend whose house has 2-inch eaves (not soffits) that are lined each summer with wasps nests.
They do nothing but ferry all the caterpillars off the peach trees to their nests all summer long.
Also, as there are always people outside on the porch, the wasps are totally chill with everyone and no one has ever been stung or swooped at.
(Friend shares the bounty.. we get lots of peaches for their diligent work.. peach pies, peach cobbler, peach schnapps, peach jam, peaches with ice cream... you get the idea...)
It's about being a part of the territory, not an interloper.
I like the wasps.. now the white faced hornets.. that's another story. Utter cunts, those ones are.
We have ground wasps here, one of the types that we call yellow jackets. Take a step in the wrong spot and you will be swarmed. They're tiny little tenacious stingy bastards that, I swear to god, keep stinging past death. My mom once stepped on a hive, got swarmed, and ran inside. Our dog was curious, she also got swarmed and went inside. I was on my computer, headphones on, and I hear howling, from both Mom and dog. I ran out thinking they were being murdered. My mom was trying to brush them off her clothes but they just clung on, so I just started smacking her. The dog ate at least one. Then they attacked me and I got stung all over my arms and head, including in my ear. I almost passed out from the pain. My poor dog had a swollen nose and a new fear. My mom was in so much pain we almost took her to the hospital. My ear hurt for days.
I murdered those bastards with prejudice. And chemicals. And then fire. Nobody attacks my mother. Or my dogs.
Yes and wasps are important pollinators too
Also, as there are always people outside on the porch, the wasps are totally chill with everyone and no one has ever been stung or swooped at.
In the States, our yellowjackets don't swoop and sting much, but they have a super-annoying tendency to hover over one's food. Possibly the behavior's a bit different where you are, possibly via related but different species.
Am in the Northeast, so we have smallish yellowjackets, the brown and tan wasps, (those ones are the chillest) hornets.. fucking carpenter bees (they eat houses!) bumblebees and reguar honeybees. I miss the green bees - haven't seen any for a few years up this way..
But those carpenter bees..
They never can seem to make up their minds. IM OVER HER IM OVER HERE NOW IM OVER HERE WHAT IS THAT LET'S LOOK AT IT FROM OVER HERE WOOPS NO LETS GO BACK HANG ON I'M OVER HERE NOW HOW ABOUT OVER HERE
Like dude you can have a sip of my soda I'll leave a splash right here just make up your mind take what you want and go. away.
We have wasps that love meat here, they come and sit at the table at your picnics. They're still friends though, even when you're fighting ten for a piece of sushi. They don't sting even when you accidentally hit them swatting them away
Wasps are always invited to the cookout!
They actually scare away the flies from what I've seen. Flies puke on your food, wasps chomp intentionally leaving less fluids.
It’s particularly bad in late summer and early fall, when their diet shifts to be more protein-rich — human food tends to be more appealing.
Hornets be chill as fuck tho. They don't care unless you're close to their nest. They're real little darlings. You're way moreikely to get stung by a honeybee
for honeybees stinging is a life and death choice. Hornets don't care
Only if you make them care. Personally, I like'em. They're like the B52s of insects.
Hell yeah! I'm so glad for lemmy opposed to reddit cause I see some wasp defense here! Wasps are bros.
I have no real ill will towards any bug that is outside other than horse flies. Horse flies can go to hell. Fucking bastards bite just for fun
And sweat bees.
Schnapps, you say? (suddenly in need of a drink )
actually the wasp eats pests. but it's also very ignorant when it senses food. so yeah, i get the resentment
So ignant!
So do bats. I propose we trade all of the wasps for some quantity of bats.
Bats are straight UP homies. Them and dragonflies. Did you know dragon flies are mid air hunters with a 100% success kill rate? I think Sir Savid Attenborough said about their predatory prowess, and I quote, "like hunting kites with a motherfucking Apache attack helicopter, yo"
You want hemoragic fevers? That's how you get hemoragic fevers.
Now you’re speaking my language.
Yellowjackets are rage with wings. Fuck the little bastards.
They give other wasps a bad rap.
Fuckin' influencer wasps.
Replace "piece of shit" with "avoid this asshole". Take these jerks over mosquitoes or ticks any day.
Haven't even thought about ticks in a few years. I cultured my property to encourage a diverse local fauna, which results in very few of the fuckers.
They aren't this high resolution in real life and they are moving all over. I'm fine with the big fatties but anything else I tuck my arms into my sleeves and make a high pitched scream.
And you're not wrong for doing so. The phat bois mostly don't even have stingers. But wasps are also less likely to swarm.
Two of the three I save when paddling.
One gets the paddle.