Mary in Charlotte, North Carolina, says that her parents used to refer to the time before she was born as back when you were chasing flies in Egypt, the equivalent of when you were just a twinkle in your mama’s eye or twinkle in your daddy’s eye. In The Front Room Boys the playwright Alez Buzo renders this idea as when you were a dirty look. In Australia, the same job is done by the phrase when you were still running up and down your father’s backbone. In Turkish, the expression Piyasada yoktun translates as “You weren’t in the market then,” means something similar. In Italian, there’s the poetic Eri ancora nel mondo della luna, which means “You were still in the world of the moon.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Sayings Meaning “Before You Were Born””
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, my name is Mary Grinton. I’m calling from Charlotte, North Carolina.
I’m calling about the expression chasing flies in Egypt. My grandparents use this expression a lot to refer to the time before you were born. You know, some people say you were a twinkle in your mother’s eye. My parents would say, oh, you know, back then you were chasing flies in Egypt. I grew up in South Louisiana, but my grandparents grew up in Indiana, so I’m not sure where the expression came from. But I’ve never heard anybody else use it, so I was almost convinced that they made it up. I was wondering if you had any information.
Chasing flies in Egypt. So they’d be talking about family memories, and you’d be like, I don’t know what you’re talking about. They’d be like, oh, that was when you were chasing flies in Egypt before you were born.
Exactly.
Okay. Yeah, I don’t know of that as a said expression. Martha, do you?
Chasing flies in Egypt?
No, I don’t. I do know that people just talk about something of a large quantity or something abundant. They might say, you know, there were as many of those as there were flies in Egypt. And flies in Egypt is a reference to the Egyptian plagues. Flies were one of the plagues brought down upon the Egyptians in the Bible. And so you’ll frequently find that, particularly in older texts, maybe not so much anymore, talking about flies being a lot of them. But other than that, no, but everyone knows, I think most people have heard of the twinkle in your mama or daddy’s eye. That’s a common view.
There are many more of these. One of my favorite ones is from a 1970 play by Alex Buzo. The play is called The Front Room Boys, and it’s When You Were a Dirty Look.
When You Were a Dirty Look?
That’s a funny one. That makes a little bit more sense to me.
Yeah, that’s more than a gleam in your daddy’s eye.
Right. And there’s one that the lexicographer Jonathan Green says is Australian. It’s when you were still running up and down your father’s backbone. I know in Turkish there’s something like piy esada yoktan, which means something like you weren’t on the market yet. Like you weren’t out on display to pick up along with the groceries. And you know there’s an Italian one, which is really lovely. You were still in the world of the moon. Oh yeah, still in the world of the moon. I love that. I like that one a lot.
Yeah, oh, and then there’s a, I think this is English, but I think you might find it in other European languages. Your mother was still cutting bread on you, meaning I guess you were still in her protuberant belly, so she had bread on her belly and was using it as a shelf to cut things. Anyway, but I know we haven’t heard chasing flies in Egypt, but why not? Why not? Why not add that as a reference? Yeah, add it to the list. It’s a good one.
Or maybe somebody else has and we’ll hear about it.
Yeah, we always hear about it. Thank you so much for sharing with us, Mary.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
All right. Take care now. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye, Mary.
Bye-bye.
I’m hoping that we hear lots of other ones from our listeners. You can call us at 877-929-9673. Or if you’ve heard of Chasing Flies in Egypt, let us know by email, words@waywordradio.org.
