In "Historically Vôtre", Stéphane Bern always has the last word and tells us the story of a phrase or expression.

Thursday, he explains to us the origins of "taking the fly", an expression which means that one gets offended easily.

To understand, you have to go back in time, to the 17th century.

What is the relationship between a fly, this little unattractive insect, and being offended by a remark or action by another?

A priori none.

However, the French language brings them together in the expression "take the fly", which often designates the behavior of a susceptible person.

To understand, we have to go back to 17th century France.

This is what

Stéphane Bern

explained 

Thursday, in "Historically yours".

>> Find all the shows of Matthieu Noël and Stéphane Bern in replay and podcast here

In the 17th century, the fly designates anything that flies and roughly resembles an insect.

We then spoke of "the ox fly" to designate the gadfly, the bee was called "honey fly", and the tick was "the dog fly".

An insect that becomes ennobled over time

In fact, the explanation of this expression "catch the fly" is very simple: in the countryside, we often saw the animals get angry and rear up because of a fly circling around them.

Fly that we poor humans hadn't even noticed.

This sudden anger without explanation gave birth to "take the fly", but also to the expression "but what fly stung him?".

At the start of the 18th century, the French naturalist Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon declared "a fly should not hold more space in a naturalist's head than it does in nature".

However, over time, the French language has recognized great qualities in the insect.

Thus, the one skilled at arms has become "a fine fly", the good shooter "hits the mark".

And the very manoeuvrable ships have become "fly boats".