Two Birds with One Stone

I made a pledge to post something every day of the year my first year of blogging. And thus far I had kept my promise; I noticed yesterday in my processes that Thursday’s blog didn’t post. I sat happily in the Draft folder until I found it on Friday.  So Friday got two post, and I’m really aghast at being so distracted I didn’t keep focus on my task.  So today’s post is to first address my oversight and in principal I’m keeping my promise, even if de jour (in the moment), I’ve reneged.

From the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus the idiom means ‘to succeed in achieving two things in a single action.  That is the spirit of my own two birds with one stone effort; make notice of the mistake, and post an observation.  But really now, what is the origin of that Idiom?

One popular version is that it’s a Chinese saying from way back, another popular one is from the Greek Mythological tale of Daedalus and Icarus.  King Minos on Crete has the two prisoners in a high tower and Daedalus devises a plan to throw stones at the birds in hopes of fashioning artificial wings to enable the pair to fly home. (if you’re familiar with the tale it doesn’t end well for Icarus), who is so overwhelmed with flight that he flies too high towards the sun that the wax that held the feathers into the wing melts and he goes crashing to his death. 

 But in the tale Daedalus finds a clever throwing motion where he is able to strike one bird and the ricochet hitting a second, thus killing two birds with one stone.  The rest, as they say, is history.  There are other citations out there but they hover around hunting terms of the 1600’s and that’s clearly way after the first two.  I also found that this term spans cultures:

In Spanish its Matar dos pájaros de un tiro 
(Kill two birds with one shot)

In Swedish; Slå två flugor i en smäll 
(Hit two flies with one smack), I’m sure that would be useful during your touring the country; blend right in.

How about Turkish?  Bir taşla iki kuş vurmak.   Well I guess for all you Boy Scout types and that be prepared thingie, you’re set. 

Now…go away I’ve accomplished my daily commitment, and it’s raining here so I’m going to get some coffee.