Declan Murphy wrote:
> On Nov 5, 9:17 pm, Jean-Marc Desperrier <jmd...@alussinan.org> wrote:
>> CL wrote:
>>> [...] probably best positioned to be gadflies.
>> It's interesting to see how a positive meaning for that word is possible
>> in english, whereas in french La Fontaine caused only the negative
>> meaning to survive through the fable "the coach and the fly" (http://oaks.nvg.org/lg2ra12.html#ticoachfly).
> 
> gadfly can be positive?  :-)

It looked positive in the quote above, and wikipedia said it could be 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadfly_(social)
""Gadfly" is a term for people who upset the status quo by posing 
upsetting or novel questions, or attempt to stimulate innovation by 
proving an irritant."
"During his defense when on trial for his life, Socrates, according to 
Plato's writings, pointed out that dissent, like the tiny (relative to 
the size of a horse) gadfly, was easy to swat, but the cost to society 
of silencing individuals who were irritating could be very high."

My wrong :-)