Influence On Language and Culture
In Great Britain the stinging nettle is the only common stinging plant and has found a place in several figures of speech in the English language. Shakespeare's Hotspur urges that "out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety" (Henry IV, part 1, Act II Scene 3). The figure of speech "to grasp the nettle" probably originated from Aesop's fable "The Boy and the Nettle". In Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock one of the characters quotes Aesop "Gently touch a nettle and it'll sting you for your pains/Grasp it as a lad of mettle and soft as silk remains". The metaphor may refer to the fact that if a nettle plant is grasped firmly rather than brushed against, it does not sting so readily, because the hairs are crushed down flat and do not penetrate the skin so easily. In the German language, the idiom "sich in die Nesseln setzen", or to sit in nettles, means to get into trouble. In Hungarian, the idiom "csalánba nem üt a mennykő" (no lightning strikes the nettle) means bad things never happen to bad people. The same idiom exists in the Serbian language.
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