# Do you catch more flies with sugar than you do with, ah, fecal matter?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-catch-more-flies-with-sugar-than-you-do-with-ah-fecal-matter/59859
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [March 28, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-catch-more-flies-with-sugar-than-you-do-with-ah-fecal-matter/59859 "2001-03-28T17:44:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@K43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K43)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-catch-more-flies-with-sugar-than-you-do-with-ah-fecal-matter/59859/1 "2001-03-28T17:44:39Z")
I have always heard the saying as “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar” meaning that people cooperate better if you use praise rather than criticism.
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### Author:  [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2001, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-catch-more-flies-with-sugar-than-you-do-with-ah-fecal-matter/59859/2 "2001-03-28T20:51:47Z")
I came here at lunch during the really slow time for the message boards to say it is vinager that I rembered. I see I am not alone in thinking that.
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### Author:  [@dublos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dublos)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2001, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-catch-more-flies-with-sugar-than-you-do-with-ah-fecal-matter/59859/3 "2001-03-28T21:38:41Z")
[This Staff report](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mflyhoney.html).
It’s just good form to post a link to a staff report you are commenting on. Instructions on how to post a link can be found in the About this Message Board section.
Thank you very much. (Hi Arnold)
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### Author:  [@dublos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dublos)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2001, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-catch-more-flies-with-sugar-than-you-do-with-ah-fecal-matter/59859/4 "2001-03-28T21:52:29Z")
That’s very nice… try and be helpful, finish it off with a smarty pants hiya to the moderator, and then use the wrong moderator’s name.
Sorry **C K Dexter Haven** I knew this was your section to keep an eye on, really I did. ☹ Mea Culpa
-Doug
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### Author:  [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-catch-more-flies-with-sugar-than-you-do-with-ah-fecal-matter/59859/5 "2001-03-28T22:22:55Z")
I think everyone in the world originally heard it as involving honey and vinegar. Remember, the person asking the question referred to the co-worker as being annoying. Certainly butchering a well-known expression while being both crude and inaccurate must rate high on the annoy-o-meter.
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### Author:  [@Cap\_n\_Capri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Capri)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2001, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-catch-more-flies-with-sugar-than-you-do-with-ah-fecal-matter/59859/6 "2001-03-29T06:35:26Z")
I think the guy was mixing metaphors. The shit/fly combination is an attractant relationship, as in “he stuck to him like a fly on shit”. His statement makes little sense, as flies are attracted to both sugar and shit.
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### Author:  [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2001, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-catch-more-flies-with-sugar-than-you-do-with-ah-fecal-matter/59859/7 "2001-03-29T12:58:47Z")
[Newsradio]
**Dave** : Bill, have you ever heard the expression “It’s easier to catch flies with honey instead of vinegar”?
**Bill** : Dave, have you ever heard the expression “Only a hillbilly sits around and tries to figure out the best way to catch flies”?
[/Newsradio]