A Fly on the wall.

Posted by Jon Gallock on October 29, 2000

In Reply to: A Fly on the wall. posted by James Briggs on October 27, 2000

: : I have a friend that remembers hearing the phrase, "a fly on the wall", when he was a child. It was related to a verse in a fariy tale or rhyme. He was rasied in England. However he can't recall it's name.
: : I'm having very little luck with this. Help.
: : Thanks...

: I can't help with the origin, but the expression is very common in the UK - there's even a TV documentary style named after it. It means very unobtrusive observation of situations. Surely also so in the US?

Thanks for the help. My friend also said that there was another part of the peice that went something like this: The little bird who flew past the window, what did he know, went screaming, fire, fire, fire, into the jungle....

And the first part would go: The Fly on the wall, he saw it all. The little bird....

Kipling...? (because of the use of Jungle)

Thoughts...

R/ Jon Gallock