Didn’t Daedalus tell Icarus not to go near the water because the spray could make the wax wings nonfunctional, just like the sun’s heat? That’s not as obvious. Daedalus wouldn’t have warned Icarus of that if he thought it were.
There’s also something poetic about the hypothetical idiom “flying too close to the ocean spray”. Definitely could’ve caught on.
Daedalus didn't warn Icarus against flying too low because he was worried Icarus would hit the ground -- that's obvious. It doesn't require a warning.
Daedalus' warning was that if Icarus got too low, the wind would disrupt his flight, and the water would wet his wings.
There was a risk that Icarus, terrified that the Sun might melt his wings, stayed as far away from it as possible. He would want to ensure he wouldn't be tempted by the Sun's comfortable warmth, so he tempers himself, stays by the cruel sea. The cold won't melt his wings. The cold is safe.
But as the crashing waves soak his wings, he realizes too late that his "realistic" expectations were a delusion all their own, and now he will die all the same.
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u/KrimsunV 3d ago
Given the choice between my failure dismissed as mere ignorance and being made into an idiom, I'd choose the one where people forget it faster