# "Spare a single fly's life, you save the world entire" - A fly-in-the-ointment poll

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spare-a-single-flys-life-you-save-the-world-entire-a-fly-in-the-ointment-poll/694756>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 4, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spare-a-single-flys-life-you-save-the-world-entire-a-fly-in-the-ointment-poll/694756 "2014-08-04T02:43:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spare-a-single-flys-life-you-save-the-world-entire-a-fly-in-the-ointment-poll/694756/21 "2014-08-04T20:07:58Z")

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> [@Shoeless](#):
>
> Are we talking a housefly, or something tiny like a gnat? If it was a housefly I wouldn’t drink it but if it was a teeny tiny bug I wouldn’t give it a second thought.
> 
> The poll reminds me of a joke I heard one time. An Englishman, and Irishman, and a Scotsman walk into a bar, they all three sit down and order a pint. A fly lands in the Englishman’s beer and he looks at it disgustedly and pushes it away. A fly lands in the Irishman’s beer, he plucks the fly out and flicks it away, then shrugs and continues drinking. A fly lands in the Scotsman’s beer, he plucks the fly out, then holds it over his glass yelling “Spit it out! Spit it out ya bastard!”

Or the Englishman in a French restaurant who considerately warns the diner at the table who is about to eat his soup: \<\<_Pardon, m’sieur, mais il y a un mouche en votre potage_\>\>, and the Frenchman fishes out the soup and says \<\<_Merci, m’sieur! Mais, ce n’est pas \<un mouche\>, c’est \<une mouche_\> \>\>. To which the awestruck Englishman can only stammer “Bloody hell, you’ve got good eyesight!”.

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**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spare-a-single-flys-life-you-save-the-world-entire-a-fly-in-the-ointment-poll/694756/22 "2014-08-04T20:18:27Z")

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I would take the fly out. And just to make my brain shuddup about it, I’d pour out a couple of mililiters–the portion that the fly ruined, of course.

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**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spare-a-single-flys-life-you-save-the-world-entire-a-fly-in-the-ointment-poll/694756/23 "2014-08-04T20:23:35Z")

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Depends on the bug and my general perception of them. If it’s a fly that’s just been hanging out on a steamy pile of dog poo I throw it all out. I’ll give an ant or bee the scoop out an invoke the 5 second rule.

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**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spare-a-single-flys-life-you-save-the-world-entire-a-fly-in-the-ointment-poll/694756/24 "2014-08-04T20:31:14Z")

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Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said “If a house fly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the other has the cure for the disease.” (Sahih al-Bukhari: Volume 4, Book 54, Number 537)

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