When it comes to words and phrases, a few stand out as deserving an explanation all their own. Ants in his pants falls into this category for me, as not only is it amazing to ponder, it opens a whole new can of worms (so to speak) on other bug-related folk remedies of days past.
     Now unless you’re a dog fighting fleas, the notion of insects squirming around on or near your skin enough to give you the creeps. But believe it or not, in its original context, adding insects was precisely the idea! The goal was to keep you moving, so as to make you squirm or wiggle.
     Not recommended for the faint of heart, but it was recommended for the lethargic.
You see, ants in the pants, is purported to be an Old English folk remedy for tired blood! In the late 1700s the belief was that if someone slept more than his fair share of time or was just lazier than folks felt he should be, well, something had to be done. To quicken circulation one cure was to place ants in the pants of the patient. (Can you imagine?)
     Now keep in mind, this was a time when leaching was popular as well. And may we not forget that Having a Bee in One’s Bonnet, (though not prescribed) referenced what today we might call O.C. D. (i.e., Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). In other words, it was a way of saying a person had something buzzing around in his head that he couldn’t let go of.
     It’s a wonder anyone survived such an age, but fortunately we got past our fixation with ants, leaches and other crawly insects curing an ailment. (But it does explain why we reference things like flu or colds as “having a bug” now doesn’t it?)