A Bee in Your Bonnet: Peculiar Fixations and Fanciful Fantasies
To have a strange fixation about something; to have an eccentric idea or fantasy. This whimsical phrase likens a persistent, buzzing thought or obsession in one’s mind to a bee trapped inside a hat. Imagine the incessant buzzing! A version of the term appears in Robert Herrick’s “Mad Maid’s Song” (ca. 1648): “. . . the bee which bore my love away, I’ll seek him in your bonnet brave.”
Bit of trivia: it became a cliché in the eighteenth century and has buzzed around ever since. It even surfaced in a 2004 murder mystery: “By the way, what bee got into your bonnet at the meeting? Bailey had been pretty cooperative” (David Baldacci, Hour Game).
Related Terms and Phrases
- Obsession: An idea or thought that continuously preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.
- Fascination: The state of being intensely interested or attracted.
- Fixation: An obsessive interest in or feeling about someone or something.
- Hobby Horse: A subject one frequently talks about or promotes; a fixation (not to be ridden, literally!).
- Pet Peeve: Something that a particular person finds especially annoying.
Fun Quotes and Proverbs
- “He’s got a bee in his bonnet about recycling. Won’t stop until everyone’s on board.”
- Proverb: “Don’t trouble trouble until trouble troubles you.” (But if it’s a bee, by all means, address it quickly!)
Suggested Literature and Media
- Books:
- Obsession by Nora Roberts
- Pet Peeves by Sue Ann Jaffarian
- Poetry:
- “The Jumblies” by Edward Lear (for whimsy!)
- Movies:
- A Beautiful Mind (portrays obsession, brilliantly)
- Amélie (shows charming fixations)
Quizzes to Buzz Your Mind
Face each day with curiosity and a sense of wonder. The world is full of peculiar and delightful fixations—embrace them!
Buzzingly yours, F. A. Cricket
