History of phraseology "flies do not offend": origin, meaning and interpretation

Many heard the expression "Yes, he does not offend flies." Someone knows its meaning, but some do not. But few people remember the story, so in order to enlighten the first and second, we wrote this article. Its main object is the history of phraseology "flies do not offend".

Origin

If a person who knows Russian well but does not go into the subtleties of the appearance of this or that expression, hears the phraseology under consideration, he will first of all think that the fly is a weak creature, and it is worthless to offend him.

But history (like the meaning that will be analyzed further) offers a slightly different interpretation.

In antiquity, as now, flies are quite intriguing and bothersome creatures, besides, they are quite harmful. Here such here is the history of phraseology. "Flies do not offend" - this means being an example of patience.

Known film by Ryazanov and phraseology

In the context of the topic, we, of course, do not need the entire plot of the film "Office Romance," only a small piece of it.

All the spectators of this Soviet masterpiece remember the scandal that A.E. Novoseltsev L.P. Kalugin. As it turned out, it was a turning point in their relationship, for he broke the ice between the heroes. For impatient readers, we explain that, of course, we are very interested in the history of phraseology "flies do not offend", but after we learned it, it would be nice to turn to the interpretation of the meaning of the expression. Soviet film is suitable for these purposes as well as possible.

So, we continue. The next day, L.P. Kalugina has already carefully studied the personal file of her hooligan employee. To clarify the information about Anatoly Efremovich, the director of the institution called Vera (she "knows everything about everyone"). Among other things, the secretary Kalugina said that A.E. Novoseltsev flies no offense.

Of course, we do not know whether the history of phraseology was interested in "the flies do not offend" the harsh boss, but we know for sure that she did not believe the words of her closest employee, who is aware of all the events at the enterprise.

Shades of meaning of phraseology

Why did Kalugina not believe Vera? Because the psychotype, which is implied by the phraseology under investigation, is quite different. Such a person, even if he is already completely exhausted, will not act. In other words, A.E. Novoseltsev behaved atypical ways, so Lyudmila Prokofievna was suspicious of Verochka's words.

But what is important is that the incident broke the ice between the elderly and disillusioned people, opening the way to happiness. And most importantly, their example helped us to disassemble meaning and meaning, and the reader became aware of the history of the origin of phraseology "flies do not offend".