It's because one of the cornerstones of Anglo-Saxon cultures was the desire to hurt flies.
That has the same problem as "harmless," which is that it picks out the absence of harmfulness, rather than an affirmative gentleness. In fact, "gentle," might be the closest to "wouldn't hurt a flyness."
There's isn't even a word for "flyness" in English. What's the difference between "wouldn't hurt a fly" and 'wouldn't hurt a flyness"?
There's isn't even a word for "flyness" in English.
Mayfieldian?
I exhibit a certain amount of flyness for a white guy.
INTERESTING THAT WE DON'T RATE A MENTION...
There are three themes: love, death, and flies. For as long as man has existed, this emotion, this fear, these presences have always been with him. Let others deal with the first two. I concern myself with flies, who are better than men, but not women. Years ago I had the idea of compiling a world anthology of the fly. I still do. I soon realized, however, that it was practically an infinite undertaking...
Some words with fly-related etymologies we have:
gobemouche: gullible person, "fly-swallower"
mouchard: police spy (spec. in France), "big fly" (as in, on the wall?)
estrus: from Greek οἶστρος via Latin oestrus for "gadfly" or some stinging insect, used classically to mean frenzy or impulse
10: Also enculer les mouches (sodomizing flies) to mean "nitpicking".
"Gentle" is problematic as an equivalent for "wouldn't hurt a fly" because one definition of "gentle" is "maggot/larva of a fly." In particular, used in fishing. Sticking a fishhook through a maggot--a baby fly!--probably hurts the poor thing.
4: That has the same problem as "harmless," which is that it picks out the absence of harmfulness, rather than an affirmative gentleness.
In what way does "wouldn't hurt a fly[ness]" not *explicitly* signal an absence of harmfulness? "Would comfort a hurt fly[ness]" might fit that bill.
Look past the surface, bird of thunder.
11: This is a thing in Europe, is it? The one I know is the Dutch mierenneuker.
Well, there's a couple of things I can't unsee.
Also, since this is the thread about Europe, I can mention that I bought a knock-off of an old Swedish alcohol stove. It was much cheaper than the Triaga mentioned by urple, but the same basic concept for the burner and the windscreen/pot combo.
No. Ledmark, but they copied the Optimus 77 design.