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August 15, 2008
More or less moot
"You catch more flies with honey," I read today. It's a cliche, but that's not what really irked me about the statement. When people write about something being more or another being less without saying what it's more than or less than, it drives me nuts.
Sometimes the "than" is obvious. "Boys more likely to outgrow asthma," I read in a recent news headline. More likely than girls, I assume, and I move on. "Commodities cost more," I read elsewhere. More than in the past, I assume. Often, however, the comparison is unclear.
You catch more flies with honey than what? More flies than grasshoppers? Perhaps you catch more flies with honey than you catch with asparagus.
I think you'll catch more flies with dung than with honey, so the point of the cliche - that we should all be sweet to one another - is moot.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at August 15, 2008 06:00 PM
Comments
Vinegar
Posted by: Mom at August 15, 2008 10:39 PM
Ah ha!
Posted by: Courtney at August 16, 2008 11:44 AM