# If there are mosquitos in England, then why no English word for them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823 "2010-01-13T19:29:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/41 "2010-01-14T13:05:28Z")
There definitely are mosquitoes in the UK but they are very regional. I lived in the NE for most of my life and never saw one. I moved to Sandwich in the SE 11 years ago and they can be a big problem. And they are easily distinguished as they look exactly you imagine from the films and natural history programs. And they make “that” sound. Incidentally, If I get bitten by one at home, I get a “meh” reaction. If I get bitten by a different population only 3 miles away, I get a “ARGGHHH!” reaction. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Philosopher)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/42 "2010-01-14T13:20:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Your friend is wrong. We don’t have any kind of mosquito _problem_ in England, but we definitely do have mosquitoes. ([cite](http://www.uel.ac.uk/mosquito/)) > > I’m not proud of this fact, and I apologise if it’s coming over that way - but it is a fact - that’s what’s bugging me here. (no pun intended) Maybe there are mosquitoes here, but I’ve lived here for decades (I only live about an hour up from the south coast) and I’ve never seen a mosquito or heard about them being here. Until this thread I didn’t realize they existed in England. I hope I don’t start seeing them, I hate them… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/43 "2010-01-14T13:47:21Z")
Have you never woken up in the summer with a large, itchy bump on the skin that persists for days? ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/44 "2010-01-14T15:18:54Z")
Every so often in the summer (in balmy south Hants) I have to go hunting for a mozzie in our bedroom, and I get bitten a bit more often. I met a guy tramping who had been bitten badly by midges in Scotland - he had to be treated with anti-histamines, both at the time, and then regularly for months later as he suffered random histamine storms as a consequence. :eek: Si ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/45 "2010-01-14T15:43:41Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Your friend is wrong. We don’t have any kind of mosquito _problem_ in England, but we definitely do have mosquitoes. ([cite](http://www.uel.ac.uk/mosquito/)) > > I’m not proud of this fact, and I apologise if it’s coming over that way - but it is a fact - that’s what’s bugging me here. (no pun intended) I didn’t really trust it to begin with, but at least I came away fromSwindon without malaria. And my point was only that it’s your fellow countrymen starting the rumour. To my knowledge he does not now, nor never has, worked for the Tourism Authority, either. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/46 "2010-01-14T15:45:44Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > :rolleyes: We know those are palmetto bugs. You’re not fooling anyone. Palmetto bugs are just a name given to big cockroaches to keep from frightening the tourists, so apparently we are fooling someone. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Philosopher)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/47 "2010-01-14T15:55:05Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Have you never woken up in the summer with a large, itchy bump on the skin that persists for days? Not in England. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/48 "2010-01-14T16:22:54Z")
To put it into perspective, I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than one mosquito in my house at any one time - and even then, not especially frequently, however, I’ve experienced them (and been troubled by them) in rather greater numbers when camping, particularly if camping near water or wetland. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/49 "2010-01-14T16:35:01Z")
> [@Rayne\_Man](#): > > Of course we have mosquitoes in the UK and malaria used to be endemic in this country:- [article](http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/sep/12/health.weather) Mum recalled a dock worker in Cork, Ireland, dying of malaria after a mosquito flew out of a container of bananas and bit him. But I just doubt that happened somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/50 "2010-01-14T17:19:30Z")
Of course we have mosquitoes in the UK. I’ve been bitten here in London, in the north east, the north west, East Anglia, and in Wales (Pembrokeshire, to be precise). I think they find me attractive. At least I don’t swell up like a squash ball, like my dad does whenever he gets bitten. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/51 "2010-01-14T17:57:04Z")
> [@TGWATY](#): > > …like there is for ants, **beatles** , and butterflies?.. I really get to say it, don’t I? Heheheh. BAND NAME! ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/52 "2010-01-14T18:33:11Z")
I grew up in the Midlands (Warwickshire, actually). Until I moved to Sweden in 1999, after 25 years of living in the UK, I didn’t even realise that mosquitoes could live in northern Europe. So, in my experience, the UK may or may not have mosquitoes but the they are much less prevalent than in other area of Europe, even those at the same (or more northern) latitudes. . ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/53 "2010-01-14T21:35:30Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > I grew up in the Midlands (Warwickshire, actually). Until I moved to Sweden in 1999, after 25 years of living in the UK, I didn’t even realise that mosquitoes could live in northern Europe. So, in my experience, the UK may or may not have mosquitoes but the they are much less prevalent than in other area of Europe, even those at the same (or more northern) latitudes. . They can be a major problem in northern Canada, as well, so they are not just confined to warmer climes. I expect that the presence of standing water is more important than a tropical climate for their proliferation. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/54 "2010-01-14T22:14:55Z")
> [@Bookkeeper](#): > > They can be a major problem in northern Canada, as well, so they are not just confined to warmer climes. I expect that the presence of standing water is more important than a tropical climate for their proliferation. They are the scourge of summer in Sweden. I was genuinely amazed to find them when I moved here. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/55 "2010-01-14T22:53:13Z")
I’ve never seen a mosquito. Horse flies are the bigger problem in the North West, and the midges in Scotland. Yes, they bite, and yes, they’re that bad, especially up in the highlands. Camping in Fort William during summer, a few years ago, was a nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/56 "2010-01-14T22:58:18Z")
Why on earth does this thread have more than 1,500 views!? Aside: at Lough Nea in Northern Ireland I heard people refer to midges as “midgets”, which amused me to the point of hysterics. “There’s a cloud of midgets over there - careful or they may bite you.” ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823/57 "2010-01-14T23:04:06Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Why on earth does this thread have more than 1,500 views!? > > Aside: at Lough Nea in Northern Ireland I heard people refer to midges as “midgets”, which amused me to the point of hysterics. “There’s a cloud of midgets over there - careful or they may bite you.” Hence that scene from _One Foot In The Grave_. Victor Meldrew rushes into a hotel bathroom with a tin of insecticide after a girl had told him it was full of “midges”. Instead he finds the room occupied by a troupe of midgets from the local circus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-are-mosquitos-in-england-then-why-no-english-word-for-them/524823.md?page=2)