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While playing "Wit's End" after Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, my wife, son and I were baffled by a question relating to the meaning of the expression, "a flea in one's ear." It turns out that it means falling for one's own trap -- sort of like being hoist by one's own petard.
I later recalled once seeing a farce by Feydeau called "A Flea in Her Ear" that had a plot based on somebody getting caught in their own snare. That made me wonder -- how many idiomatic expressions are there in English that relate to insects? Here are the ones that came to my mind -- please contribute to the list:
A bee in one's bonnet.
A fly in the ointment.
A bug in a rug.
Ants in one's paints.
I later recalled once seeing a farce by Feydeau called "A Flea in Her Ear" that had a plot based on somebody getting caught in their own snare. That made me wonder -- how many idiomatic expressions are there in English that relate to insects? Here are the ones that came to my mind -- please contribute to the list:
A bee in one's bonnet.
A fly in the ointment.
A bug in a rug.
Ants in one's paints.
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Fri, November 28, 2008 - 4:58 PMActually, I thought of a few more after posting this, but realized that phrases involving insects is too limiting. How about all vermin above the single-celled variety:
Fly on the wall.
The bee's knees.
Full as a tick.
Lazy as a slug.
A snail's pace. -
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Wed, December 3, 2008 - 8:40 AMJust to be a lexical elitist: snails and slugs are not insects. -
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Wed, December 3, 2008 - 8:47 AMMickey - Just to bug you.....are you sure you're not confusing elite taxonomy with lexical elitism? ;-) However, that is a well called technicality even though I do believe it was already pointed out. Sometimes one needs to stretch taxonomies to prolong the wordplay, it's all pleasurable social intercourse. -
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Wed, December 3, 2008 - 10:53 AMAh. I am not reading everything. Alas. -
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Wed, December 3, 2008 - 11:02 AMNo need to bug out! The net has been widened to include all vermin, enjoy! -
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Wed, December 3, 2008 - 1:06 PMI'm too buzzy for my own good.
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Thu, December 4, 2008 - 12:50 PMPlease note the secondary note. My initial description and thread title weren't sufficiently inclusive for what I had in mind. -
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Thu, December 4, 2008 - 12:52 PMIncidentally, "note the note" is a phrase straight from the lexicon of the Department of Repetitive Redundancies, Replicative and Reiterative Iteration Division -- sometimes known as the Squad Squad. -
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Thu, December 4, 2008 - 1:37 PMBill - Technically, doesn't the redundancy depend on whether you're using "note" as a verb and a noun or as two verbs? -
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Thu, December 4, 2008 - 4:40 PMPlease note that your note on "note the note" has been noted.... -
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Fri, December 5, 2008 - 7:09 AMThe notion that my note on "note the note" has been noted leads me to notice and note my pleasure at your noting of my note.
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Thu, December 4, 2008 - 1:43 PMIt should be noted that I am frequently lost in the hallways and strange twisted underground passageways of the Department of Repetitive Redundancies, Replicative and Reiterative Iteration. Usually dragging around a few unnecessary "actuallys" to throw into sentences where they really don't need to be. (If anyone is familiar with Kids In The Hall, one of my alter egos is the "It's a fact" girl. I am endless seduced by knowledge and learning in all their forms.)
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Fri, November 28, 2008 - 10:12 PMInsect related, put the kids to bed advice:
Don't let the bed bugs bite. -
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Fri, November 28, 2008 - 10:58 PM"Excellent," as Mr. Burns would say to Smithers.
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Sun, November 30, 2008 - 8:02 PM"Stir up a hornet's nest."
"Sung as a bug in a rug."
Outside or insects, there's:
"The worn turns"
"The early bird catches the worm." -
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Re: Insectile paralysis
Wed, December 3, 2008 - 6:25 AMLike bees to honey
Edward - I suspect you meant "snug as a bug in a rug" but I'm up for hearing something sung as a bug in a rug! ;-) Thanks for the visual, now I have images of singing ladybugs tap dancing around my head!
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