I refer to the currently screening movie ‘The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest’. European Wasps are one of the minor themes of this chatline. The wasp (Vespula spp) is of course a different thing from a hornet (Vespa spp). As to the aptness of the metaphor, I am informed by Phil Spradbery that a wasp is likely to be a much livelier adversary than the relatively lethargic hornet, of which, at the present time, there are none in Australia. Moreover, if, for whatever reason, you really wanted to kick a nest neither a wasp’s (being quite likely underground or in a cavity) nor a hornet’s (being a papery thing up in a tree) would be a convenient target. Perhaps the hornet’s nest has been rendered kickable after falling out of the tree, but this raises other issues. The original Swedish title has nothing at all to do with wasps or hornets. I have directed a question to the translator, without any great expectations of a response.
On the subject of movies, I might mention that the fine young Australian actor in ‘Griff the Invisible’, Leon Ford, is one of Narrabundah’s own, having been raised within koel-call around the corner in Finniss Crescent.
