Editing 357: Flies

{{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 politeness than hostility.

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 {{w|honey}}. He then tells his friend to try it with his own {{w|Fruit fly|fruit flies}}. Fruit flies are attracted to the products of {{w|fermentation}}, particularly to {{w|ethanol}} and {{w|acetic acid}}. The acidity in vinegar is due mostly to acetic acid. 

When Cueball's statement is found true, as balsamic vinegar smells like sweet and decomposing fruit to the fruit flies, his friend complains to his mother (with a vitriol influenced by Cueball, perhaps to get some favor) 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, much like watching a clock. However, the pot will boil eventually, so if you keep watching it continuously, you are bound to see it boil at some point.

In the title text, it seems that [[Randall]] explains why he wrote this comic — his vinegar bowl attracted a lot of fruit flies. However, he has not done the experiment with {{w|Housefly|houseflies}}.

The notion of a watched pot not boiling is ascribed to {{w|Benjamin Franklin}} under the pseudonym "Poor Richard." He writes, "a watched pot is slow to boil," meaning "Time feels longer when you're waiting for something to happen."[http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/watched-pot-never-boils.html]

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is typing on a computer, and his friend is lying on the floor.]
:"Noob" (on computer): *$@#!
:Friend: Hey, ease up on the noobs. Like my mom always said, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

:[Cueball has turned his chair around.]
:Cueball: No, you don't.
:Friend: You don't?
:Cueball: Nope, set out a bowl of balsamic and a bowl of honey. The vinegar gets more.

:[Cueball's friend is now sitting on the floor.]
:Friend: ...Seriously?
:Cueball: You have fruit flies. Try it yourself.

:Later:
:[Cueball's friend is standing in front of a table, talking into a phone. On the table, there are two bowls, and the bowl on the left seems to be surrounded by flies.]
:Friend: 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]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Science]]