Why Is it Called the Birds & the Bees?
The phrase "the birds and the bees" is a common euphemism that refers to the uncomfortable parental task of explaining sex to young children. Since birds and bees as well as sex are found in nature, the term has been linked to love, sex, and reproduction in many types of media.
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Early use of term
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Bees do it William and Mary Morris credit poet Samuel Coleridge in his poem,"Work Without Hope" with the earliest analogy of birds and bees to sex or "pairing" in their 1967 reference book, "Morris Dictionary of Words and Phrase Origins." (Reference 1) "All nature seems at work. . .The bees are stirring---birds are on wing. . .and I the while, the sole unbusy thing not honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing."
Later connections
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In 1928, jazz musician Cole Porter made popular the song "Let's Do It". The words,
"Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it. Let's do it, let's fall in love." make the connection between humans, birds, and bees even more explicit. -
Explicit use
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Michael Quinion states on his website "World Wide Words" (Reference 2) that in 1939, the Freeport Journal Standard stated, "A Frenchman was born sophisticated: he knows about the birds and the bees. In consequence, French films are made on a basis of artistic understanding that does not hamper the story."
Uncomfortable topic
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The task of explaining "the facts of life" to children is still often linked to this universally coined term, "the birds and bees." Today children, too, use the term "doing it" when referring to the act of having intercourse.
Speculation
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Birds and bees are common to children all over the world. Perhaps that's why these animals were chosen to provide the link between human sexuality and the animal world so long ago.
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References
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- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of su neko Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Brigitte Wohack
