bee in one's bonnet
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English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
[edit]bee in one's bonnet (plural bees in one's bonnet)
- (idiomatic) Something of particular interest or concern; an obsession.
- Synonym: burr in one's saddle
- He has had a bee in his bonnet ever since he heard about the problem.
- 2008 July 11, “Is Graham Linehan right to slate BBC3 comedy?”, in The Guardian TV and radio blog[1]:
- The BBC is well used to being a punchbag for every crank with a bee in their bonnet or a score to settle but some critics are not so easily dismissed.
- 2008 September 26, Megan McArdle, “Yay nuclear!”, in The Atlantic[2]:
- McCain stands up for nuclear energy. This puts a spring in my step and a song in my heart. I have to give him credit; when he has a bee in his bonnet, he is often willing to stand up for things, like free trade and immigration, that freak voters out.
- 2015 March 12, Geoff Nunberg, “Don't You Dare Use ‘Comprised Of’ On Wikipedia: One Editor Will Take It Out”, in npr[3]:
- Giraffedata has a single bee in his bonnet, the phrase "comprised of." He has written a 6,000-word essay on his Wikipedia user page explaining why he thinks it's an egregious error.
- 2023 March 5, Jonathan Bouquet, “May I have a word about… being stuck in a permacrisis”, in The Observer[4], →ISSN:
- Reader Vivien Bailey also has a bee in her bonnet: “The usage that I detest is the growing use of the word ‘birth’ as a verb. This seems to have come in waves starting five or six years ago, and we’re in the middle of a wave now.”
Translations
[edit]something of particular interest or concern
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