Appalachian Word of the Week -- WASPERS

WASPERS nest

This week I’m going to talk about one of the nasty and painful critters that left its mark on me way too many times during my childhood. WASPERS.

WASPERS are not to be confused with honey bees, yeller jackets, bumbly bees, hornets, or mud daubers. These rascals build their paper-thin nests almost anywhere and can get quite testy if they're disturbed.

I learned it the hard way one summer when I attempted to replace a broken croquet mallet stick with a different one. The mallet was stuck tight and refused to unscrew. I got this great idea to use the side of the coal house to knock it loose.

A WASPERS nest, minus the WASPERS

To set this up, I had my hair in dog ears. Dog ears are like pigtails, but not braided. That means I had a part (or bare scalp) in the middle and hair pulled up into my dog ears on each side. At about eleven years of age, my thought process had not fully developed when I started whacking that stick on the coal house.

Before I knew what was happening, the entire nest of WASPERS swarmed me and commenced to stinging. They got me down the part between my dog ears, on my bare arms, and on my face. I commenced to screaming bloody murder for my mom.

She looked out the back door at me jumping around and screaming to high heaven and grabbed the fly swatter. She didn’t use it to swat the WASPERS away from me. She used it to swat them ON ME! She swatted me so hard, I swear she hurt more than the WASPERS. She wouldn’t let me go into the house, either, until every one of them WASPERS was dead or gone.

I swelled up like a red strawberry. Mom had to pick out the stingers left behind when she walloped the WASPS right off their back ends. I hurt from the part in my hair to my ankles. One great big one got me in the fleshy part under my arm and wouldn't let go. I still have the shadow of a scar from that rascal. That night I had to soak in a tub of cool water with baking soda, trying to get rid of the venom. It took several days for the pain to turn to itching. I also kept my hair in those dog ears until my scalp healed enough to brush my hair again.

Nope, WASPERS are not a happy memory of my childhood. I learned a valuable lesson, though. Don’t whack on anything that might house a WASPERS nest inside. They have a nasty disposition. 

Did you get stung by WASPERS when you were young? Do you still remember the pain?

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