Busy as a Bee

Sometimes we use a phrase without giving much thought to its meaning. Many expressions that are now a part of our every day language have a rich history, of which we may not always be aware.

Recently, I was weeding around our caragana hedge - and collecting enough scratches from the thorns to make me look like I had been in the middle of a cat fight! While weeding, I observed a big fuzzy, beautiful bumblebee collecting nectar from the flowers of the hedge. Weeding is not a very cerebral task, so my mind was free to wander.  I started thinking about bees, and the phrase, “busy as a bee”
came to mind.  

According to The phrase finder, the expression “busy as a bee” is from a line of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, (the Squire's Tale), written between 1386-1400:  

“... Ey! Goddes mercy!” sayd our Hoste tho,
Now such a wyf I pray God keep me fro.
Lo, suche sleightes and subtilitees
In wommen be; for ay as busy as bees
Be thay us seely men for to desceyve, ... ”

I read part of Canterbury Tales in high school, but it is doubtful I gleaned enough during that class to begin quoting Chaucer! I do remember my mother saying the phrase when I was young; it is much more likely that I picked it up from her!

I realized yesterday that the blossoms on our Canada Red Cherry tree had also become a magnet for bees. While watching the cherry tree for a bit, I realized there were various sizes and shapes of bees buzzing all over the tree and sucking polling from its blossoms.

Although very different from each other, they were all working very hard.  Trying to take their picture was harder than getting a toddler to sit still for a portrait. Every time I focused on a bee it moved before I could click the shutter.  They were in constant motion, from flower to flower.

We have many moments in our lives when we feel like we are going full tilt, or when we are amazed by how busy someone else may be.  We might describe ourselves or that other person as “busy as a bee.”  

As well loved as they are - it's doubtful anyone would ever consider it a compliment to be describes “as busy as a ladybug!”

After observing bees at work, I am wondering if the phrase “busy as a bee” perhaps flatters the human race just a little.  Can any person or anything else really be as “busy as a bee”? 

It is quite a compliment, but I have my doubts!

What do you think?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!