|
We've been meaning to sit you down for a frank discussion of you-know-what for a while. You've probably picked up a thing or two at the playground, but something was likely lost in the translation. Anyway, we think you're finally old enough to hear the truth... Several sources give credit to the great Cole Porter for coining the phrase. One of the legendary musician's more famous songs was "Let's Do It." The 1928 standard contains the lyrics: Birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love World Wide Words goes on to explain that the first "explicit use of the
phrase" didn't occur until 1939. An article on filmmaking from the Freeport Journal Standard stated: "A Frenchman was born sophisticated: he knows about the birds and the bees." Hey, hey -- vive la France! The Straight Dope believes poet Samuel Coleridge was the likely originator. His poem, the cheerfully titled "Work Without Hope," opens with: All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair--
The bees are stirring--birds are on the wing-- In other words, when the birds start moving and the bees start grooving, it's on like Donkey Kong. While there's no real consensus on how the term came about, most folks cite
Mr. Porter. If you'd like a final opinion on the matter, we suggest you ask your health teacher.
|
