Fly in the ointment
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That's the fly in the ointment
This English idiom is used to express a drawback, especially one that was not at first apparent
- Sam's lack of map-reading skills turned out to be the fly in the ointment when he applied for the job.
A likely source is a phrase in the King James Bible:
- Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour (Ecclesiastes 10:1)
For five centuries now 'a fly in the ointment' has been meaning a small defect that spoils something valuable or is a source of annoyance. The modern version thus suggests that something unpleasant may come or has come to light in a proposition or condition that is almost too pleasing; that there is something wrong hidden, unexpected somewhere. This idiom has been used in the title of some books: The Fly in the Ointment: 70 Fascinating Commentaries on the Science of Everyday Life and The Fly in the Ointment by Alice Thomas Ellis.
It is documented[citation needed] that the former idiom "the fly in the amber" preceded the use of this one, in the past meaning merely that something is as unexpectedly out of place as the fly that one occasionally finds embedded in fossilized amber.
[edit] Sources
- The Fly in the Ointment: 70 Fascinating Commentaries on the Science of Everyday Life by Joseph A. Schwarcz, Ecw Press, May 28, 2004.
- 2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings & Expressions from White Elephants to a Song and Dance by Charles Earle Funk (Galahad Book, New York, 1993
- Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).
- Brush Up Your Bible! by Michael Macrone
[edit] External link
- [1] A Fly in the Ointment
