# he wouldn't hurt a fly



## DearPrudence

Hello 

I was just curious. Do you also have the same image in you language when someone is not violent:
*
English: he wouldn't hurt a fly
French: il ne ferait pas de mal à une mouche* (exactly the same)

(I think it's the same in Spanish but I don't know)

Thanks


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## sayah

Hi,

You are right, in Spanish we say: "no hace daño ni a una mosca", which means exactly the same than the English version.

Sayah


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## Frank06

Hi,

In *Dutch *we say: Hij zou geen *vlieg* (fly) kwaad doen.

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Outsider

Portuguese: _não faz mal a uma mosca_.


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## Azori

Slovak: Neublížil by ani muche. The meaning's the same as in English.


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## Saluton

Russian: *он мухи не обидит* (on m*u*khi ne ob*i*dit). Same as above.


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## Tamar

In Hebrew:
הוא לא יפגע בזבוב  [hu lo ifga bezvuv]
Same as English.


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## anachevere

In Spanish we say "No haría daño a una mosca". 
Usually in *conditional*, as in English. 

In Catalan, we say "No faria mal a una mosca". 
Same as above!


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## dn88

*Polish:* _muchy_ (fly) _by nie skrzywdził_


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## User1001

Er würde keiner Fliege (et)was zuleide tun.
Same meaning.


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## irene.acler

In *Italian*: non farebbe (del) male a una mosca.


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## Trisia

*Romanian*: n-ar face rău nici unei muşte.

Exactly the same as in English and French.


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## Saluton

Wow! 13 languages and the wording is exactly the same!


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## zohre

Hi all,

In  *Persian*  :
آزارش به مورچه هم نميرسه:He wouldn't hurt an ant


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## Saluton

And now, the first language that is different


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## valo__fan

Turkish is the same also;
 O bir sineği bile incit(e)mez.(he wouldnt hurt a fly)


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## Zsanna

In Hungarian it is a *fly*, too: a *légy*nek sem árt.

I was wondering whether it is because Beelzebub was apparently the "god of flies". Flies seemed to be despised by everybody in the old times so not surprising that one of the "supreme bad" figures was connected to them. 
In that sense the saying means that the given person would not even hurt the "biggest baddy" (= who would deserve it)!


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## Encolpius

interesting topic

*German*: keiner Fliege was zuleide tun (means the same)


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## apmoy70

In Greek we use "ant" instead of "fly":
Δεν πειράζει ούτε μυρμήγκι
ðen pir*a*zi *u*te mirm*i*ŋgi
lit. "he wouldn't hurt even an ant"


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## phosphore

Serbian:

(on) ne bi ni mrava zgazio (literally: he wouldn't hurt even an ant)


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## bibax

Czech: Neublížil by ani mouše.


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## Encolpius

Hello, do you use the same idiom in your language? We do. Thanks. 

*Hungarian: A légynek sem tudna ártani. [Couldn't hurt even the fly]*

*Italian: Non farebbe male a una mosca. *


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## frank Chan

Chinese
不忍踩死一只蚂蚁= (He) wouldn't step on an ant. 
same to Serbian idiom, to descibe a person who are kind and nice person, he is a 好人。


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## sakvaka

*Finnish*: _Hän ei satuttaisi kärpästä__kään. _S/he would not hurt even a fly.
or even more commonly _Hän ei tekisi pahaa kärpäsellekään. (wouldn't "do bad" to...)_


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## jazyk

In Portuguese: Não faria mal a uma mosca.


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## Natalisha

*In Russian:* 
Он (даже) мухи не обидит. - He won't hurt/offend (even) a fly.


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## Rallino

In Turkish:

*Bir sineği/karıncayı bile incitmez = [Never hurts even a fly/ant]*


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## Orlin

Bulgarian: И на мравката път прави. = He/she makes way even (lit. and) to the ant.


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## hollabooiers

*Estonian*: Ta ei teeks kärbselegi liiga.

_Liiga tegema_  is like to harm or to do unjustice. So it's "s/he would not harm (even) a fly".

It's amazing how so far we've only got flies and ants and no other insects/animals mentioned here!


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## Encolpius

So many fly-related idioms, is the origin not from the Bible? Is there a Latin version? Or Greek?


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## nimak

phosphore said:


> Serbian:
> (on) ne bi ni mrava zgazio (literally: he wouldn't hurt even an ant)





frank Chan said:


> Chinese
> 不忍踩死一只蚂蚁= (He) wouldn't step on an ant.
> same to Serbian idiom, to descibe a person who are kind and nice person, he is a 好人。



In *Macedonian*:

*Ни на мрава/мравка не гази.* (_Ní na mráva/mrávka né gazi._) = lit. "Not-even on _(an)_ ant _(he/she)_-doesn't step."

*Ни на мрава/мравка не би згазил.* (_Ni na mráva/mrávka ne bí zgazil._) = lit. "Not-even on _(an)_ ant (_I/you/he/she_)-wouldn't step."


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## Dymn

sayah said:


> You are right, in Spanish we say: "no hace daño ni a una mosca", which means exactly the same than the English version.





anachevere said:


> In Spanish we say "No haría daño a una mosca".
> Usually in *conditional*, as in English.


_"No mataría ni una mosca" _seems more common to me, in fact I would say "_haría daño_" is a calque from English.


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## Circunflejo

Dymn said:


> _"No mataría ni una mosca" _seems more common to me


Because that's what you say in Catalan. In Spanish, _no mataría ni a una mosca_ but it's about as frequent as _no haría daño a una mosca_ or _no haría daño ni a una mosca_. I wouldn't use the _haría daño_ version(s) myself but I guess that's just my idiolect.


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## Dymn

This whole thing with the "_a_" for direct objects still puzzles me to this day but I find plenty of results with "_no mataría ni una mosca_" online (most of them by non-Catalan speakers). Either way the main point was that I find _mataría _"would *kill*" to be more common than just hurt.



Circunflejo said:


> I wouldn't use the _haría daño_ version(s) myself but I guess that's just my idiolect.


Maybe it's a matter of European vs. Latin American Spanish. But I don't know why the two Spaniards above didn't even bother mentioning "_mataría_" as an alternative version.


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## Circunflejo

Dymn said:


> Either way the main point was that I find _mataría _"would *kill*" to be more common than just hurt.


Yes, I would also say that it's more common but the other one isn't unknown either. Context may make a difference though.


Dymn said:


> I find plenty of results with "_no mataría ni una mosca_" online (most of them by non-Catalan speakers)


It's curious. I see many results in Catalan, some results from the Americas and some other results which origin I can't identify (pseudonims, translations of foreign authors made by an unknown translator for me...). Anyway, it's not (that) relevant.


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