bee in one's bonnet

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English

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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bee in one's bonnet (plural bees in one's bonnet)

  1. (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

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See also

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