Meaning & use
no flies on you
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiominformal
Said to praise someone who is quick, clever and hard to fool or take advantage of.
Grammar: Fixed expression; the pronoun can change: there are no flies on him.
Patterns
- there are no flies on someone
- no flies on you
You spotted the mistake in seconds; there are no flies on you.
There are no flies on my grandmother when it comes to haggling.
He sold the idea to the board in one meeting, so clearly there are no flies on him.
Common combinations
- there are no flies on her
- There are no flies on her when it comes to money.
- no flies on him
- No flies on him; he saw through the trick right away.
- no flies on you
- No flies on you, I see; you have already read the contract.
- clearly no flies on
- Clearly no flies on our new accountant.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sharp
- Sharp is a single adjective for quick-witted, while this idiom is a full friendly remark.
- nobody's fool
- Nobody's fool stresses not being easily tricked, so it is a little more serious.
- on the ball
- On the ball means alert and efficient, and it is more common in modern speech.
- shrewd
- Shrewd suggests careful, sometimes calculating, judgment, which no flies on you does not imply.
Opposites
Word family
- fly noun
- a small flying insect
- flies noun
- plural of fly
- flypaper noun
- sticky paper that traps insects
- fly-by-night adjective
- unreliable, especially in business
Commonly confused: no flies on you or fly in the ointment?
no flies on you vs fly in the ointment
A fly in the ointment is a small problem that spoils something. It is a different idiom with a different meaning.
Practice
When Jo noticed the hidden fee straight away, her uncle laughed and said, ___.
Choose one answer.
There are no flies on you praises someone for being sharp and hard to fool. The other options mean the opposite or something unrelated.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “no flies on you”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.