Crosswords0 min ago
Blue arsed fly?
3 Answers
Is the origin of running around like a blue arsed fly just from buzzing bluebottles or is there a more interesting origin?
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No best answer has yet been selected by piptik. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.There was an old song of the American Deep South all about the "blue-tailed fly". From the song, it's clear that such insects were a blasted nuisance, having to be continually brushed away by servants...even, in the end, resulting in the Master's death after falling from his fly-pestered horse.
I'm sure the version, such as you offer in your title, is just the somewhat cruder British version of the same idea...something constantly buzzing around.
I think it's far more likely that the creature in question is a bluebottle, as Piptik suggests. This is a fly of the Calliphora genus with an iridescent blue body...ie one that looks blue all the time rather than just in the dark like a firefly. To see them buzzing endlessly around - just like the busy, busy person we compare them to - simply put some rotting meat out...and watch!