# I pit Spectre of Pithecanthropus' wife **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 31, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314 "2016-10-31T23:10:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/61 "2016-11-01T20:18:34Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > But I’ve just become more uncomfortable with killing of random insects that happen to come in my house with glee. Personally, I like my evenings at home to be relaxed so anything or anyone entering my house with glee better watch their/its ass. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/62 "2016-11-01T21:24:05Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Personally, I like my evenings at home to be relaxed so anything or anyone entering my house with glee better watch their/its ass. Go you, those bugs need a strapping man just like yourself to keep them in their place. **Bryan Ekers** , Valiant and Fearless Defender of the Bug Free Zone. Wanker. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/63 "2016-11-01T22:38:49Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](#): > > Go you, those bugs need a strapping man just like yourself to keep them in their place. I totally mis-glanced / mis-read this in a hurry and perceived it as, _“Those bugs need a strapping to keep them in their place.”_ I was picturing an insect getting spanked with a strap belt. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/64 "2016-11-01T22:45:45Z")
And \*\*Brayn Seekr \*\*is just the man to do it! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/65 "2016-11-01T22:47:31Z")
_sigh_ If you’re going to lash out, at least put some wit into it. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/66 "2016-11-01T23:01:03Z")
Actually, mantises are closely related to cockroaches. Ever since I read that I’ve noticed the family resemblance when I look at a mantis. They look like elongated, big-eyed, well-armed cockroaches to me now. But I’d still shoo it outside somehow. Not that I care if someone kills one in their own home. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/67 "2016-11-01T23:24:24Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I totally mis-glanced / mis-read this in a hurry and perceived it as, _“Those bugs need a strapping to keep them in their place.”_ > I was picturing an insect getting spanked with a strap belt. :eek: Better than my mental image, which included an insect using a strap-on. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/68 "2016-11-01T23:41:47Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Personally, I like my evenings at home to be relaxed so anything or anyone entering my house with glee better watch their/its ass. Y’know had I re-read my post and realized how it could be read. Then I realized I couldn’t use my mod powers to fix it after the edit window closed and I’d just have to live with the ridicule. Thank you for being gentle. It is the pit after all. Damn principles bite me in the ass every time. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/69 "2016-11-02T00:35:33Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Damn principles bite me in the ass every time. Well, that’s what happens when things are left dangling. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/70 "2016-11-02T00:46:08Z")
I can support the OP to the extent that gassing a mantis with roach spray is a dick move. I think they are pitting the mentality of ‘all crawly things must die’ in general more so than the killing of this one particular bug. It is a sort of sad but comical caveman-like reaction many of us still have to kill everything that moves and to consider any other life forms in our homes dangerous intruders that must be dealt with. Having lived in the jungle the better part of the past decade I’ve come to have a kind of empathy for most bugs. I even catch scorpions and tarantulas (once the stars of my worst nightmares) and take them back outside. I’ve also learned that their presence is why I never need to worry about things like moths or roaches. Parasites that can make me or my family or pets sick are really the only exceptions to this. A researcher was working near here a couple of years ago and we had a stick bug on the front porch that was well over a foot long. She said it would be worth possibly hundreds of dollars to her university, but I refused out of some sort of empathy for the bug. ---
**Author:** ![OwnRules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@OwnRules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OwnRules)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/71 "2016-11-02T00:54:11Z")
It’s a bug, not a feature. Og smash!!! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/72 "2016-11-02T02:47:21Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > _sigh_ If you’re going to lash out, at least put some wit into it. Might as well ask him to fly to the moon, while you’re at it. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/73 "2016-11-02T03:12:04Z")
I’m with The Great Unwashed; I despise and loathe people who kill harmless things because they are scared of them for no fucking reason. I always have, I always will. It is purely despicable. Killing all things that have being on this earth just because they might slightly bother us is what humans are apparently the very best at. Go us. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/74 "2016-11-02T11:28:58Z")
Other than the wasp/hornet stuff that shoots a quarter mile, we do not have any “bug-spray”, but the idea of “spraying” is one of our in-jokes. In one area of our backyard we have a butterfly garden consisting of plants specifically chosen to attract the species of butterfly native to our area. A visitor was amazed by all the butterflies flitting about the yard. I said, “yeah, it gets really bad this time of year, I’ll have to spray”. She looked really uncomfortable. You could see she wanted to say something, but was choking it back. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/75 "2016-11-02T14:44:50Z")
I love bugs. I don’t understand the mentality behind the instinct to kill bugs. At my cousin’s wedding recently, a praying mantis walked down the aisle after the bride (after landing on someone’s head.) It was in danger of getting smushed, so **Sr. Weasel** picked it up and moved it safely out of the way. We took some pictures with it because it was so fucking awesome and then let it go on its way. The bride, when she later heard what happened, was disappointed we didn’t bring it to her. Not a single person at that wedding suggested it should have been killed. When I read that post, I cringed. I always feel sad when people kill bugs, and it wasn’t even in the house. But the idea that it is worthy of a pitting or such vile insults is beyond my ability to comprehend. Enough people kill bugs that I recognize it’s probably me who’s a little on the weird side. Has the OP ever swatted a mosquito? Or a fly? I do. It makes no logical sense to differentiate them in my head, but that’s what we do. Please don’t kill bugs. Also, this is a dumb pitting. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/76 "2016-11-02T14:47:34Z")
> [@Entomologists, draw near and your answers will be humbly requested. What the heck is this thing?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomologists-draw-near-and-your-answers-will-be-humbly-requested-what-the-heck-is-this-thing/770310/14): > > … > When I read that post, I cringed. I always feel sad when people kill bugs, and it wasn’t even in the house. > > But the idea that it is worthy of a pitting or such vile insults is beyond my ability to comprehend. Enough people kill bugs that I recognize it’s probably me who’s a little on the weird side. > > Has the OP ever swatted a mosquito? Or a fly? I do. It makes no logical sense to differentiate them in my head, but that’s what we do. > > Please don’t kill bugs. Also, this is a dumb pitting. Yeah but the fact that you failed to post this in the correct thread speaks volumes to your ability to comprehend. Mosquitos: swatted Flies: shooed if necessary swatted Cockroaches: nuked You don’t seem to have read nor understood my OP, let me reiterate, it is the knee-jerk, “_What the fuck s that?! Kill it quick!_” mentality that roasts my goat. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/77 "2016-11-02T15:08:28Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](#): > > it is the knee-jerk, “_What the fuck s that?! Kill it quick!_” mentality that roasts my goat. So you’re pitting evolution. Truly you are an retard. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/78 "2016-11-02T15:21:18Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > So you’re pitting evolution. Truly you are an retard. Fuck me, that’s glib! So, all innate behaviours that might have been useful in our evolutionary past should be considered acceptable today? That is obviously wrong, and it should take less time than it takes to stamp on a bug to see why. So no, it is you that are an retard. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/79 "2016-11-02T15:39:22Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I get it, we’re dumb. It may interest you to know that my wife told me she thought it was yet another, larger kind of roach. When the roaches come back two weeks after you took your kitchen apart, bombed it, cleaned everything, and put it back together, you kind of tend to see everything as a roach. Hey Spectre - last year My apartment was completely infested with cockroaches despite monthly visits from an exterminator. I spend forever sealing cracks and plugging holes to no avail, exterminators felt ripping out and rebuilding the cabinets was the only choice. The last straw was when I found roaches nesting in the cabinets under the canned goods - in that little space created by the rim of the can. I decided to give up on the exterminators and do it myself. I bought this and applied it 4 tubes. [https://www.amazon.com/Syngenta-750448-Advion-Roach-Bait/dp/B004YWE2C2/ref=sr\_1\_9?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1478100700&sr=1-9&keywords=advion+cockroach+gel+bait](https://www.amazon.com/Syngenta-750448-Advion-Roach-Bait/dp/B004YWE2C2/ref=sr_1_9?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1478100700&sr=1-9&keywords=advion+cockroach+gel+bait) They were all gone in a week and I have been roach-free for a year now with no additional action. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/80 "2016-11-02T15:48:03Z")
_blinks_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314.md?page=5)