Catching Flies

“Why in Hell would I want to catch flies?”

The speaker is a character in a book I’m reading, a police lieutenant and total literalist.  It is her response when someone quoted the old axiom - “You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.”

My mother must have told me that a thousand times, usually after hearing me make some cynical (or downright snarky) comment.  It is a good and valuable metaphor - You will make more friends by being nice than by being rude.

Taken literally, however, the statement is demonstrably incorrect.

Empirical observation has proven that flies are not particularly attracted to honey, but acetic acid (vinegar) reminds them of rotting fruit, and that is something they do like.  Balsamic vinegar in a saucer with a little water and a few drops of dish washing detergent will lure, secure, and eventually dispatch flies by the truck load.

While I’ve heard that saying all my life, I had never really given it any thought.  Now that I have, I think you would probably catch more flies with bullshit.