Talk:catch flies

Deletion discussion

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catch flies

Not sure about this one. --Type56op9 (talk) 17:55, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

Keep, I think. DCDuring TALK 18:43, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

I'm familiar with this idiom in German too ("Mund zu, sonst kommen Fliegen rein"). Not sure what the best title would be, though - the current one strikes me as odd. -- Liliana • 20:39, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

Only flies? In Russian, if you gape, you can catch more interesting things. - -sche (discuss) 22:02, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

Not sure; the given definition is a bit strange. (I seem to remember being told in primary school that "an open mouth catches no flies" is a South American proverb.) Equinox ◑ 22:06, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

I'd say RFV but it would be very hard to cite because of all the literal usage of catching flies. I will attempt to add a definition which isn't patent nonsense. 95.144.169.113 17:53, 9 March 2015 (UTC)

Isn’t this only used as try to catch flies? — Ungoliant ^(falai) 19:24, 9 March 2015 (UTC)

Possibly the most common, but not likely to be the sole attestable use. I'd make it a redirect to whatever we decide the lemma is and also use it as part of a usage example there. DCDuring TALK 22:21, 9 March 2015 (UTC)

Kept. No consensus.--Jusjih (talk) 02:28, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

There's still a problem here. The entry says that catch flies means "have one's mouth wide open for a prolonged period", but the usex reads "You'd better close your mouth; are you trying to catch flies?". This person presumably doesn't mean "are you trying to keep your mouth wide open?", but that's what the entry would suggest. Equinox ◑ 19:11, 17 July 2017 (UTC)