At 01:11 PM 7/15/2001, PSavage wrote: >Steve, are you a linguist? >Where did you come by the arcane knowledge >re the origination of the term "no see 'ems"? I don't think he's right. In New England no-see-ums (note the spelling) are midges, or minges, or as the French-Canadians call them, "sparks from hell" -- very tiny flies which carry a very tiny red-hot needle to stick in you. Much much smaller than black flies, walk through regular mosquito netting as though it isn't there. The ones we have though, the zing goes away in a half hour or so with no aftereffects. "No-see-um netting" is the fine-mesh netting that does keep them out, along with most of the air. david
>I've only known the term to refer to the tiny, nearly >invisible knat with a viscious bite whose burning itch >intensifies for ten days. Amonia, applied with a swab, >brings some relief. >Known in Mexico as jejenes. David Beierl - Providence, RI http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/ '84 Westy "Dutiful Passage" '85 GL "Poor Relation" |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.