aaagh . . . . persistence personif(l)ied
Deer flies truly are persistent li'l bastidges. I was swimming in Georgian Bay (central-ish Ontario, Canuckistan) years back and a deer fly came at me. I ducked under the water, swam away about 20 feet, resurfaced and the li'l bastidge was right there - waiting. This went on for about 10 minutes: me vainly swimming away underwater, resurfacing to find the same deer fly (I could tell by his Def Leppard t-shirt)had followed my submarine progress and was waiting for me to surface for a gulp of oxygen.

Eventually it wore me down. I gave up and resignedly proferred a juicy bit of hairline flesh for its bloody feast. They will win
(ring-finger is also a verb, Thu 24 Apr 2008, 19:22, Reply)