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Members of the public believe the blue-arsed fly was actually around much earlier.

Dictionary buzz … Get in touch with OED if you know the earliest usage of 'blue-arsed fly'.

The phrase's original entry in the OED, in 2005, saw its earliest usage attributed to Prince Philip, who told a photographer in 1970: "You have been running around like a blue-arsed fly."

I am rather taken, meanwhile, with the effort being put into finding the first appearance of "blue-arsed fly".

The OED is appealing for the public's help in tracing the history of English words and phrases Most of us are familiar with the meaning of "running around like a blue-arsed fly", but where exactly did this peculiar phrase come from?