White flies are poetic or colloquial idioms. Appeared in Russian due to the observation of ordinary people. What is popularly called white flies? And what is the history of this phraseology?
White flies: meaning
This phraseologism has always been understood as fluttering snowflakes or falling snow. White flies called the first snowfall, which, as a rule, took place in the fall. Snow flakes, consisting of coalesced snowflakes against the general background of fallen leaves, bare trees, gray sky and dark earth, not yet covered by a snow cover, in appearance seemed like a large swarm of white flies that moves in one direction. Therefore, "flies" began to be called "white."
With the beginning of winter, white flies ceased to be remembered, because falling snowflakes no longer had the ability to stick together as before, and there was no longer a black background that would make them stand out. However, since the beginning of March, with the advent of spring, they began to use the metaphor again. Because snow belated flakes against the general background of the earth with melted snow again became similar to the known image.
The method of education
If you approach the method of forming this turnover from a scientific point of view, we can say that it appeared through a metaphorical transformation of a free phrase. Nowadays, in the dictionaries of this revolution “white flies” contains a “poetic” mark in the meaning of “falling snow”. It is used by authors of fiction.
You can also come across this phrase with a “colloquial” mark. As a rule, this way it is used by ordinary people in everyday life, during a conversation.
The meaning of the statement “reached white flies”
How else is the described phraseological unit used? In addition to the stable phrase, which is discussed in our article, the people also have the expression "reached white flies." In everyday life, peasants understood him to be a time delay with the harvest. Frosts have already passed or snow has fallen, and the crop from the fields has not yet been harvested.
Such a statement had a negative connotation and was used in speech when it was necessary to regret something or there was a need to reproach someone.
