andypowe11

By andypowe11

No fly tipping

My second in an intermittent series of Slinkachu-inspired shots, this one set on some park railings just to the side of the Royal Crescent in Bath.

I had to cycle to the park and back three times to blip this :-(. The first to take the original shot, which unfortunately included a one-winged fly because one fell off while I was gluing it down. The second to take a long shot of the setting, which I'd forgotten to do first time round. The third to add a second fly, this time with both wings in tact.

The finished blip doesn't work quite as well as I would have liked because the fly doesn't stand out enough against the rusty railing below it. Never mind.

According to The Word Detective, the phrase "fly tipping", derives as follows:

"Tipping" is a very old British term for dumping, first appearing around 1838. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "tipping" is defined as "the tilting up of a truck so as to discharge its contents; the emptying out of the contents of a truck, etc., by tilting; dumping." While "tipping" originally referred to rubbish and the like dumped from a truck, it has since become a synonym for any sort of refuse disposal.

The "fly" in "fly tipping" is a bit more obscure, but it appears to be derived from "to fly" in the familiar aviation sense. Since the early 19th century, "fly" has been British (and sometimes American) slang for "wide awake" or "clever," and currently carries the connotation in Britain of "crafty" or "dishonest." So "fly tipping" is rubbish dumping done sneakily (and illegally).


Not sure I've ever come across the "crafty" or "dishonest" connotations of "fly" to be honest. Still, the explanation makes sense otherwise.

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