What is meant by the idiom Have a bee in your bonnet?

Answer 1

When you come across an idiom, try to picture what the words say. Picture any woman with a bonnet. Perhaps you can even picture a bonnet as a hood that beekeepers wear. Now, imagine the person noticed (or imagined) a bee in there--what would a person do! They'd be agitated, consumed with trying to get the bee out, and trying everything possible to get it taken care of without being stung! They'd also likely be yelling or loudly asking for help. Even after the bee is gone, they could still be agitated, worried, and constantly looking around for that darn bee, certain it might come back! Might even be angry or upset that they had this experience.

In this sense, having a bee in your bonnet is like the idiom "a dog with a bone"-- some topic you can't let go of, that you keep talking about even after the event is over, that makes you agitated and upset over so you keep being agitated or worried over it.

Note: "a bee in your bonnet" is used in reference to females, while "a dog with a bone" (gnawing and gnawing over and over on the same thing) is mostly used in reference to males.

Also note: Historically, notice that this was a sexist idiom, a put down, spoken by males against women they knew. So, in literature, it is often a male character who will speak or think these words in the idiom. If it is used today, women can say it about themselves or other women, too. But not to describe a man.

Their mother acted like she had a bee in her bonnet when her teenage kids kept leaving their dirty dishes in their rooms.

I had a bee in my bonnet when my date started saying sexist remarks.

Many people on internet forums get a bee in their bonnets over nothing of any importance.