crocodile meaning a line formed (for BrE natives)
spam>@att.net Joanne Marinelli
bucks for the hardcopy edition, Byatt's charming collection, LITTLE BLACK
BOOK OF STORIES, and she repeatedly calls a line of people a crocodile, re:
"They had come with a group, walking in a chattering crocodile behind a
guide," (p20)
and I'd like to know if this is her particular whimsy or do Britons actually
refer to a line of people in such a fashion?
Her tone reminds me, for all the world, of Russell Hoban's TURTLE DIARY,
which was published long before Byatt emerged, though much beloved here.
Joanne
--
Django Cat
Moovement has to be involved. It's usually only used in connection with
elementary school children; you form a crocodile in twos with teachers
front and back, typically anytime the children are taken anywhere out of
school in a group. People waiting in a line for something are a queue.
DC
david56
> I have just started, and stained the pages with dip after shelling out the
> bucks for the hardcopy edition, Byatt's charming collection, LITTLE BLACK
> BOOK OF STORIES, and she repeatedly calls a line of people a crocodile, re:
>
> "They had come with a group, walking in a chattering crocodile behind a
> guide," (p20)
>
> and I'd like to know if this is her particular whimsy or do Britons actually
> refer to a line of people in such a fashion?
This is perfectly true and is a fairly reliable British English
Speaker marker. Were the chattering group children? The word is
rarely used of adults; it normally refers to children walking in
pairs (often holding hands) with am adult at the front and another at
the rear. It's a safe way of moving a large number of children on
foot from one location to another.
When I was about eight years old, it was a mile's walk from my school
to the council swimming pool. Once a week we formed a crocodile to
walk there and back.
I saw many children walking in crocodiles around the London museums
the other day when went to Imperial College.
--
David
=====
spam>@att.net Joanne Marinelli
"Django Cat" <nos...@please.com> wrote in message
news:opr9hlgx...@news.freenetname.co.uk...
Wow, neat. Now I know she isn't being pretentious! Yes, the first story
involves children waiting or moving in line. I've never heard the expression
before.
Thank you both.
Joanne
Tony Cooper
wrote:
If moovement is involved, wouldn't it better be called a cow than a
crocodile?
Peter Duncanson
There is a more recent variant of the crocodile - the "walking bus".
As a pedestrian alternative to a school bus it is used for getting groups of
children to and from school under adult supervision. Parents/guardians
escort their kids to and from the "walking bus" just as they would with a
bus with wheels.
For example
http://www.islington.gov.uk/living/living.asp?sectionid=1443
--
Peter Duncanson
UK
(posting from a.e.u)
Django Cat
Oopps. Anyway kids would look stupid walking down the street in a cow.
DC
Peter Duncanson
>>
>> If moovement is involved, wouldn't it better be called a cow than a
>> crocodile?
>>
>Oopps. Anyway kids would look stupid walking down the street in a cow.
Quite. Millipede or centipede might be more descriptive terms.
Tony Cooper
wrote:
Why not a panto cow when they want to horse around?
LaurieF
"Joanne Marinelli @att.net>" <the-palsied-poet<no spam> wrote in message
news:MFEyc.51957$Gx4....@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
OED: "line of schoolchildren etc. walking two and two", whatever the last
three words may mean - why not "in pairs", or "in twos"?
Regards,
LaurieF
>
>
>
Pat Durkin
"LaurieF" <laurie...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1yIyc.6015$oR7....@nurse.blueyonder.net...
Well, I skimmed over the "two and two" as a simple variation on my "two by
two".
Two by two, they go marching through. . .
(Is it "Sweethearts on parade"?)
What song was that in? Something by Victor Herbert, I'll warrant.
Peter Duncanson
<laurie...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>OED: "line of schoolchildren etc. walking two and two", whatever the last
>three words may mean - why not "in pairs", or "in twos"?
>
The New Oxford Dictionary of English has "in pairs", as do two
Oxford-derived desk dictionaries.
SOED 3rd Ed.
"joc. A girls' school walking two and two in a long file 1870"
david56
>
> "LaurieF" <laurie...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1yIyc.6015$oR7....@nurse.blueyonder.net...
>
> > OED: "line of schoolchildren etc. walking two and two", whatever the last
> > three words may mean - why not "in pairs", or "in twos"?
>
> Well, I skimmed over the "two and two" as a simple variation on my "two by
> two".
>
> Two by two, they go marching through. . .
> (Is it "Sweethearts on parade"?)
> What song was that in? Something by Victor Herbert, I'll warrant.
I don't know but I understand that: The Animals Went In Two By Two.
--
David
=====
meirman
<tony_co...@earthlink.net> posted:
>
>>> If moovement is involved, wouldn't it better be called a cow than a
>>> crocodile?
>>>
>>Oopps. Anyway kids would look stupid walking down the street in a cow.
>>
>Why not a panto cow when they want to horse around?
Is that like a panto ice cream?
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
Baltimore 20 years
Alan OBrien
"david56" <bass.c...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1b352ba8c...@news.individual.net...
> "Joanne Marinelli" <the-palsied-poet<no spam>@att.net> typed thus:
>
> > I have just started, and stained the pages with dip after shelling out
the
> > bucks for the hardcopy edition, Byatt's charming collection, LITTLE
BLACK
> > BOOK OF STORIES, and she repeatedly calls a line of people a crocodile,
re:
> >
> > "They had come with a group, walking in a chattering crocodile behind a
> > guide," (p20)
> >
> > and I'd like to know if this is her particular whimsy or do Britons
actually
> > refer to a line of people in such a fashion?
>
> This is perfectly true and is a fairly reliable British English
> Speaker marker. Were the chattering group children? The word is
> rarely used of adults; it normally refers to children walking in
> pairs (often holding hands) with am adult at the front and another at
> the rear. It's a safe way of moving a large number of children on
> foot from one location to another.
>
> When I was about eight years old, it was a mile's walk from my school
> to the council swimming pool. Once a week we formed a crocodile to
> walk there and back.
Where was that? Clapham?
david56
>
> "david56" <bass.c...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
> news:MPG.1b352ba8c...@news.individual.net...
>
> > When I was about eight years old, it was a mile's walk from my school
> > to the council swimming pool. Once a week we formed a crocodile to
> > walk there and back.
>
> Where was that? Clapham?
I'm not sure where you get the idea it might have been Clapham.
Perhaps it's amusing and I don't get the joke, sorry. Clap 'em in a
crocodile. Take this crocodile to Clap 'em.
Or, you are a southerner who can't imagine life outside the M25, even
before it was built.
It was Kenilworth in the early 60s.
--
David
=====
Alan OBrien
No - I was brought up in Clapham and we had a similar one mile walk at the
same age. It was just a shot in the dark!
david56
>
> "david56" <bass.c...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
> news:MPG.1b3651fd...@news.individual.net...
> > Alan OBrien typed thus:
> >
> > >
> > > "david56" <bass.c...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
> > > news:MPG.1b352ba8c...@news.individual.net...
> > >
> > > > When I was about eight years old, it was a mile's walk from my school
> > > > to the council swimming pool. Once a week we formed a crocodile to
> > > > walk there and back.
> > >
> > > Where was that? Clapham?
> >
> > I'm not sure where you get the idea it might have been Clapham.
> > Perhaps it's amusing and I don't get the joke, sorry. Clap 'em in a
> > crocodile. Take this crocodile to Clap 'em.
> >
> > Or, you are a southerner who can't imagine life outside the M25, even
> > before it was built.
> >
> > It was Kenilworth in the early 60s.
>
> No - I was brought up in Clapham and we had a similar one mile walk at the
> same age. It was just a shot in the dark!
OK. It was probably pretty common. I would add that our council
swimming pool was outdoors and unheated.
--
David
=====
Pat Durkin
Yep, that's another-- a kiddie marching song. "The apes go marching two by
two, hurrah, hurrah."
Now that I think more about it, the melody for the animal march is the same
as "Mademoiselle from Armentieres, parlevoo?", with all the hinky-dinky
stuff.
Django Cat
Hopefully not all that stuff in the version I know.
DC
Alan Jones
"Alan OBrien" <alaneob...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:P_Xyc.88741$wd7....@front-1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
In our town (Melksham in Wiltshire) such junior-school crocodiles, on their
way to or from the swimming-pool, hold up the traffic most weekday
mornings - all done very civilly.
Alan Jones
Django Cat
wrote:
Now you mention it crocodiles pass my front door twice daily.
DC, one-nil, one-nil, one-nil, one-nil...
Odysseus
>
> Yep, that's another-- a kiddie marching song. "The apes go marching two by
> two, hurrah, hurrah."
I've only heard that one with "ants", rather than "apes".
> Now that I think more about it, the melody for the animal march is the same
> as "Mademoiselle from Armentieres, parlevoo?", with all the hinky-dinky
> stuff.
Another song set to that tune (or at least a very similar one) might
be heard on _Mr. Rogers_ or _Sesame Street_: "If you're happy and you
know it, clap your hands." The melody I've heard for the 'ants
marching N-by-N' song is a little different, in a minor key; it
originally belonged to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again",
dating from the American Civil War. I also learned a rude version
when I was in the reserves:
"Three German soldiers crossed the Rhine, t'boo, t'boo, (bis)
Three German soldiers crossed the Rhine,
They fucked all the women and drank all the wine,
And they all said, 'Sieg Heil! Tickle my ass,' t'boo.
"They came upon a wayside inn, t'boo, t'boo, ..."
I don't know what, if anything, "t'boo" signifies; I never saw the
lyric in writing, but it might have been "taboo". As sung the first
vowel was quite indistinct.
--
Odysseus
Django Cat
Bloody stupid game anyway.
Daniel James
news:<P_Xyc.88741$wd7....@front-1.news.blueyonder.co.uk>, Alan
> No - I was brought up in Clapham and we had a similar one mile
> walk at the same age.
Not to the Latchmere Road baths?
Cheers,
Daniel.