> Dear All
>
> I presume that you over there in the colonies talk about yellow jackets you
> are referring to what we in the old country call wasps?  I must say chaps
> that yellow jackets make them sound *very* benign, like some sort of kids'
> holiday camp staff!  WASP has the ring of something aggressive enough to
> catch our beloved honeybees on the wing and bite their heads off ...
 
Believe me, yellowjackets (usually written as one word) certainly are not
associated with "benign".  They are a wasp (I think actually a form of hornet)
and are very common where I am.  They are agressive, sometimes going after
sugary stuff (or honey) and sometimes going for meat.  Around here,
"yellowjacket" is as much associated with bite-our-bee's-heads-off mean
as "wasp" is.
 
-Mike