# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/121 "2016-11-04T23:48:07Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > You _can’t imagine_ how someone couldn’t identify a preying mantis? Really? :dubious: I’ve never seen one, except maybe at a pet shop or something. You’re last two sentences feel contradictory. Do you also think people should / can rationalize away all phobias? Well, yeah, but I’d never seen an elephant outside of a zoo or circus, yet the first time I saw one walking down the road I had no trouble recognizing it. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/122 "2016-11-04T23:59:12Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > House centipedes are the scariest thing ever. > > I’m pretty sure I posted about it on the Dope the first time I saw one. > > I’m a bug enthusiast but… holy god damn. I only know of their existence because of the Dope, and I hope to hell it stays that way and I never lay eyes on one in person, in my home. … And it turns out sewer moths aren’t that bad once you know their more common name: drain fly. ---
**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 5, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/123 "2016-11-05T00:14:48Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Well, yeah, but I’d never seen an elephant outside of a zoo or circus, yet the first time I saw one walking down the road I had no trouble recognizing it. Even so, you should have hit him with some roach spray just in case. ---
**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 5, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/124 "2016-11-05T01:37:03Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Nobody has yet answered this crucial question, and I’m a-skeered to google. Sewer moths sound like something you’d find in Rob Zombie’s basement. ---
**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 5, 2016, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/125 "2016-11-05T03:49:59Z")
I feel like drain fly is not much better. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/126 "2016-11-05T13:04:02Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Yeah, well, it isn’t you that has to tell the kids, “Sorry, mama’s not coming home tonight”. “Does that mean she’s not going to bite your head off and eat you, Daddy?” \ “I MISS HER SO MUCH!” “Awwww. Poor Daddy!” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/127 "2016-11-06T19:07:32Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > House centipedes are the scariest thing ever. > > I’m pretty sure I posted about it on the Dope the first time I saw one. > > I’m a bug enthusiast but… holy god damn. Yes. I know it’s completely irrational but I have to run from the room and climb on top of something. They’re the only buggy thing that creep me out so thoroughly. When I was a kid one came out of the sink drain and Mom was on the phone and had to hang up, uttering the family classic “I’m going to have to call you back, there’s a centipede in my sink”. ---
**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 6, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/128 "2016-11-06T19:14:53Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I feel like drain fly is not much better. Yeah, “sewer moth” is no big deal. I don’t spend much time in sewers. Drains, on the other hand, I have in multiple rooms in my house, and I don’t like the idea of bugs crawling out of them. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/129 "2016-11-06T19:16:50Z")
OTIO ---
**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 6, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/130 "2016-11-06T19:21:54Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Yeah, “sewer moth” is no big deal. I don’t spend much time in sewers. Drains, on the other hand, I have in multiple rooms in my house, and I don’t like the idea of bugs crawling out of them. But what if a sewer moth got out of the sewer. Their wingspans are 6 - 8 feet across, and they have a row of ventral pincers that drip poison. ---
**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 6, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/131 "2016-11-06T19:49:34Z")
I think you are thinking of the Tory Cabinet. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/132 "2016-11-07T00:57:58Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](#): > > I explained that I found the instinctual “What the fuck is that? Stamp on it it quick!” attitude sickening. It is sickening. > > The life of one bug is of no consequence whatsoever, not even to the bug. > > Am I outraged? I don’t think so. Have I blown a gasket? Nah, it would be quite a bit more obvious. Did I say the couple in question should never have children? Nope, that’s just your clumsy misreading of common-or-garden words (quick, stamp on them!) > > I must confess that I am at a loss to understand how you can find my distaste to be unworthy of expression, but somehow your derision at my distaste, well _that_’s just got to be said. You were so angry about it that you had to make a Pit thread–you couldn’t just say how much that bugged you in the actual thread. And you’re so upset, it didn’t even dawn on you that attacking _ **someone’s family member** _ is a horrible thing to do. You couldn’t even make your pit thread about the action. You had to attack someone’s wife. Seeing as I don’t remember you being some horrible asshole, I think saying you are “outraged,” “blowing a gasket,” “freaking out,” etc. is perfectly apt. You could have easily just posted in the thread in question “Wow. That reaction really bothers me. I hate it when people’s first instinct is to kill the unusual.” That would not be freaking out. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/133 "2016-11-07T04:41:27Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > “Does that mean she’s not going to bite your head off and eat you, Daddy?” > \ “I MISS HER SO MUCH!” > “Awwww. Poor Daddy!” LOL. No, I mean, this post literally made me laugh out loud. Well-played, **JohnT**. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/134 "2016-11-07T07:07:05Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > House centipedes are the scariest thing ever. > > I’m pretty sure I posted about it on the Dope the first time I saw one. > > I’m a bug enthusiast but… holy god damn. I disagree. Back before my long-distance gf dumped me to adopt her troubled niece’s baby instead of moving out here to be with me, I made an agreement with the centipedes in the basement. It was along the lines of, “Look, you guys are truly magnificent bugs, and I hardly ever even see you, even down in the unfinished basement with its fiberboard floors and cement walls and so on. However, my gf is absolutely terrified of spiders, and you guys are like spiders on steroids with your 40 legs and googly, crawly aspect. So! I am telling you in person,” (I sort of express what little insanity I am afflicted with by speaking out loud to the centipedes when I see them), “if I catch you upstairs, outside of the basement, I will have no choice but to squish you. If you stay in the basement, I will do my best to defend you. I hope you understand. This is my house after all.” I see basement centipedes as kind of pets. I have never seen more than two at one time down there (and I don’t see them even down there but once every 30-45 days, they hide), and as barking mad as it may seem to speak to bugs, there has been only one time (post adoption fwiw) that I have spotted these guys upstairs- they were baby centipedes, but you gotta teach your children well, and they got squished. Point is: not the scariest thing ever, I kind of like them, but even sans best gf ever, they better not come upstairs. ---
**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 7, 2016, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/135 "2016-11-07T13:27:55Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Point is: not the scariest thing ever, I kind of like them, but even sans best gf ever, they better not come upstairs. Okay, but are you talking about [centipedes](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjZv_7v3pbQAhUI5oMKHdt3Bk8QjBwIBA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fd12dc99qm3izfr.cloudfront.net%2Fuploads%2Fproject_file%2Ffile%2F7113%2FScolopendra_polymorpha_0002.jpg%3Fv%3D1416845301&psig=AFQjCNGxtnfaw-dVE3BHy6R1ZODaBnvKkQ&ust=1478611399138450), which I think are just super cool, or house centipedes, which are an [unholy terror](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdOWySgxzug)? The first time I saw one of those things, it was in my bathroom, and at first, I did not believe it was real. I had never seen anything like it before, it didn’t fit with any known sort of bug I had ever seen. So I was like, ‘Okay, it’s an alien, and clearly it hates me.’ (Either way, I still won’t squish them.) ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/136 "2016-11-07T16:10:08Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Okay, but are you talking about [centipedes](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjZv_7v3pbQAhUI5oMKHdt3Bk8QjBwIBA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fd12dc99qm3izfr.cloudfront.net%2Fuploads%2Fproject_file%2Ffile%2F7113%2FScolopendra_polymorpha_0002.jpg%3Fv%3D1416845301&psig=AFQjCNGxtnfaw-dVE3BHy6R1ZODaBnvKkQ&ust=1478611399138450), which I think are just super cool, or house centipedes, which are an [unholy terror](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdOWySgxzug)? Both of these things are absolute nightmares. I wouldn’t kill them, but only because I would have run far, far away instead. I have that thing where you freak out about holes, only with legs. Eight is my limit. ---
**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 7, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/137 "2016-11-07T16:24:50Z")
Will you all kindly fuck off to MPSIMS or at least say something mean about someone else. ---
**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 7, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/138 "2016-11-07T19:00:17Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](#): > > Will you all kindly fuck off to MPSIMS or at least say something mean about someone else. We’re not exactly being kind to centipedes, you know. ---
**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 7, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/139 "2016-11-07T19:11:51Z")
Yeah, centipedes are morons, it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314/140 "2016-11-07T19:33:25Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](#): > > Will you all kindly fuck off to MPSIMS or at least say something mean about someone else. Well, I don’t like your tie.\* \*famously said by a very young, cheeky George Harrison during The Beatles tryouts at Parlophone, to George Martin, who didn’t see much in them musically at the time, but with cracks like that, liked their spirit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-spectre-of-pithecanthropus-wife/770314.md?page=8)