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I recently read an article about honey

As I was reflecting on all the health benefits of honey, it suddenly occurred to me: I don't think I've ever seen a sick bee. Coincidence? Probably. But honey may be one miracle cure that lives up to the buzz.

according to (www.thefreedictionary.com), it means "to fulfill expectations; to satisfy a goal or set of goals" but I hardly put that on the context here.

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  • It's a slightly "odd" usage, solely motivated by the punning potential. The normal word there would be hype, not buzz. Dec 24, 2014 at 3:19
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    @FumbleFingers - 'Buzz' is used quite often in AmE in the sense of 'hype', 'gossip'.
    – Erik Kowal
    Dec 24, 2014 at 3:27
  • @Erik Kowal: I specifically said "slightly" because I knew someone would say OP's version was "normal". But it's too rare to graph in NGrams. Dec 24, 2014 at 3:38
  • Google Books estimates live up to the buzz:416 hits, live up to the hype:13,500 hits. Dec 24, 2014 at 3:39
  • @FumbleFingers - Fair enough. (And thanks for running the searches.)
    – Erik Kowal
    Dec 24, 2014 at 3:41

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The buzz is the sound of many people talking about something, it's a playful slang idiom that generally means something is the subject of positive rumors. "Living up to the buzz" is indeed fulfilling expectations --the expectations created by those rumors.

In this case, the phrase is used especially because bees also make a buzzing sound.

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  • Incidentally, there are many sick and dying bees. There have been huge "die-offs", and entire colonies have disappeared; the term is "colony collapse disorder" (CCD). Certain pesticides, particularly neonicotinoids (or "neonics" for short) are suspected culprits, Dec 24, 2014 at 8:00

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