357: Flies

2013-05-22T15:36:03Z

31.147.104.195: /* Transcript */ added !

{{comic
| number = 357
| date = December 14, 2007
| title = Flies
| image = flies.png
| titletext = I don't know about houseflies, but we definitely caught a lot of fruit flies with our vinegar bowl. Hooray science!
}}

==Explanation==
The saying "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" means that people are more likely to be won over with persuasion than force.

When [[Cueball]]'s friend tells him this after he replies to a "{{W|noob}}" using swear words, he then says that the saying is literally false by saying that {{w|Balsamic vinegar}} attracts more flies than honey. He then tells his friend to try it with his own fruit flies.

When Cueball's statement is found true (because balsamic vinegar has a higher sugar content that white vinegar or honey), his friend complains to his mother that she lied to him. He then says that another saying, "a watched pot never boils", is also literally false. That saying means that an event that is monitored with impatient attention will seem to take longer.

==Transcript==
:[Interior, man types on computer, friend is lying on the floor.]
:Man [typing swear words]: *$@#!
:Friend: Hey, ease up on the noobs. Like my Mom always said, you catch more flies with honey then with vinegar.
:Man: No, you don't.
:Friend: You don't?
:Man: Nope, set out a bowl of balsamic and a bowl of honey. The vinegar gets more.
:Friend: ...Seriously?
:Man: You have fruit flies. Try it yourself.
:[Later.]
:Friend [on the phone with his mother]: Mother! You LIED to me! And it gets worse. I was watching a pot yesterday, and guess what it did? It BOILED, Mother!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

357: Flies