By Lisa Lewis of the Greene County Master Gardeners
Bees are a vital part of our vegetable and flower garden life cycle. Over the years, several sayings about bees worked their way into our everyday language. Here are just a few.
Make a beeline for: The 1908 Davenport Daily Ledger reported that Gustav Stengel, Sr. of Rock Island, was thrown from his sleigh when his horse became frightened, turned abruptly, and made a beeline for home. Bees head out to a source of nectar after watching a forager bee’s wiggle dance or a bee returning to the hive fully laden with pollen and nectar. Bees fly rapidly in the shortest, straightest line available, ignoring any distraction.
A bee in your bonnet: This idiom traces back to Virgil’s Aeneid from 1553. The phrase “hede full of beis” means being preoccupied with a strange idea that conjures an agitated state one would be in if a bee was buzzing around inside one’s hat.
The bee’s knees: This phrase traces to the late 1700s when it referred to anything stylish, especially something small and delicate, such as a lace collar or the tiny joint in a bee’s leg. In the 1920s, other groovy sayings, like the “cat’s whiskers,” “snake’s hips,” and “flea’s eyebrows,” revived this saying.
Spelling bee: A “bee” is a meeting of people working together for the common good of the group since at least the 1700s. For example, Americans would join a husking bee to strip corn. The phrase expanded to include many purposeful gatherings like Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Put the bee on: This saying meant asking someone for money, often with a pitiful, woe-is-me tale. It goes to the American frontier days when churchgoers would organize a “bee” to gather donations to pay the preacher.
Let’s end with a few silly jokes appropriate to our topic.
What does a bee use to style his hair? A honeycomb.
Why do bees hum? They forgot the words.
What do you call a wasp? A wanna-bee.
SOURCE: Steinmetz, K. Time Magazine. Behind the Bee’s Knees: The Origin of Nine Bee-Inspired Sayings. August 7, 2013. https://time.com/3897638/bee-inspired-sayings/