Mythbusting? "You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

[Flashman]

Hi folks,

 

It is my contention and speculation that the aphorism:

 

"You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

 

Is completely false.

 

I contend that vinegar is very effective at catching flies, whereas honey is useless. This is due to the observation that I found I had a leakage of a honey dispenser (One of those squirty ones that sits on it cap) that had been sitting on an open shelf unattended for some time, and it had ZERO, ZIP, NADA, insects caught in it. Whereas an aqueous preparation of malt vinegar, water and dish soap, theorised by myself to mimic the odor of rotting fruit and thus attract fruit flies, catches and kills dozens of fruit flies a day.

 

Discuss,

 

Flashman.

 

(BTW, this seemed most appropriate section for this, please direct me otherwise if I was wrong)

[big314mp]

This is all I can contribute:

 

http://xkcd.com/357/

[Flashman]

LOL, nice find.

[aguy2]

Hi folks,

 

It is my contention and speculation that the aphorism:

 

"You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

 

Is completely false.

 

I contend that vinegar is very effective at catching flies, whereas honey is useless. This is due to the observation that I found I had a leakage of a honey dispenser (One of those squirty ones that sits on it cap) that had been sitting on an open shelf unattended for some time, and it had ZERO, ZIP, NADA, insects caught in it. Whereas an aqueous preparation of malt vinegar, water and dish soap, theorised by myself to mimic the odor of rotting fruit and thus attract fruit flies, catches and kills dozens of fruit flies a day.

 

Discuss,

 

Flashman.

 

(BTW, this seemed most appropriate section for this, please direct me otherwise if I was wrong)

 

Here are 2 more debunks:

 

"If you wish in 1 hand and s*** in the other, you know what you will get."

 

I contend that, "You will get your wish.", that you shouldn't have done that!

 

_________________________________________________________________

"Nice guys finish last."

 

I contend, "Everything is true about that statement, except for the 'last' word."

aguy2

 

Ps. Nice find big314mp. I have added the site to my favorites.

[bobbigomez]

I used this product called Fli Trap, which the rules won't allow me to advertise here, to catch fruit flies that were in my apartment. I used red wine vinegar as the bait or you could use their bait as well, and it worked very well. I also just used a jar with the same vinegar and a little dish soap, and it worked almost as well, but this did work better and is more attractive.

Edited June 18, 2015 by Phi for All
Commercial link removed

[dimreepr]

A more accurate saying would be “you can catch more flies with shit than vinegar” but then, the meaning behind the saying would be lost.

[LowneWolfe]

A more accurate saying would be you can catch more flies with shit than vinegar but then, the meaning behind the saying would be lost.

Since honey doesn't attract flies while foul vinegar and feces do the saying is already meaningless. Considering what popular media, the corrected reality based saying is amusing to me.