The phrase a fly in the ointment means “a small thing that ruins something larger.” The phrase goes all the way back to a passage in Ecclesiastes: “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor.” Here the word ointment is used in its older sense of a “perfumed cosmetic” or “scented oil.” A single dead fly could ruin a whole vial of fragrance. By the 18th century, English speakers were using this phrase metaphorically. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “What “a fly in the ointment” Means: A Small Thing That Ruins Something Larger”
Listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
The other day, somebody mentioned a fly in the ointment, and then she stopped and said, wait.
What what does that even mean, a fly in the ointment?
Right.
Because we just pass along these idioms and colloquialisms, and we don’t necessarily examine them even if we know what they mean.
Yes.
And I got all excited because, of course, I had to go dig up the etymology of this, and it’s really fascinating.
It comes from the book of Ecclesiastes.
In the King James version of the bible, it reads, dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor.
So doth a little folly, him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.
In other words, one little thing can ruin your reputation.
It doesn’t have to be a big thing.
You know?
One little thing vivid than the way we use it today.
We just talk about unwanted matter in our circumstance or or our concoction, but, really, it’s talking about rotten stench interfering with our our concoction.
Yes.
And the rotten stench here is key because in ancient times, ointment didn’t necessarily mean medicine the way we think of it today.
Ointment could also be a perfumed cosmetic or a scented oil.
Right.
The oil that you might do on, like, chapped dry feet.
Right?
Yes.
A sign of respect or tribute.
Right.
Or, you know, put something behind your ear because it smells good.
You know, a dead fly or two is gonna stink up a whole vial of perfume.
So that’s the idea.
And then it was only in the eighteenth century that English speakers started using the specific phrase fly in the ointment to mean that small thing that messes up a good situation.
But, Grant, you and I both love it when somebody asks us a question and then just sends us off on a lexical treasure hunt like that.
And you know what?
They can totally control our behaviors by sending their language questions to us to email words@waywardradar.org.
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