I think the "catch more flies with honey than vinegar" saying is actually getting its sense across correctly through being inaccurate, because what vinegar is to flies maps to what honey is to us while what honey is to flies maps to what vinegar is to us. IMO this makes it cleverly ironic, and a good example of the difference between truth and facts, or between information and data.

(Whether it's actually true and applicable in a given situation, is a different matter)