Herding Cats Meaning Phrase
An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative non-literal meaning attached to the phrase.
Herding cats meaning phrase. Often used as a point of comparison in the phrase like herding cats Trying to get my two toddlers out the door these days is like herding cats. One of the commonly encountered uses of the term in technical fields is the phrase Managing programmers is like herding cats Managing engineers is like herding cats or Managing tax specialists is like herding cats. The phrase herding cats comes from the common saying that something involving coordination of many different groups or people is as difficult as herding cats.
Think of a clowder as the cat equivalent of a pride in other words as a herd of cats. In English alone there are an estimated twenty-five thousand. Rather than referring to cats and dogs being uprooted from thatched roofs during bad weather another competing theory the phrase is like the French urinating cow a classic example of using animal imagery to exaggerate the extremeness of the weather being described.
Can you imagine having two or three dozen cats and trying to lead them or drive them into one direction. Its raining cats and dogs. Idioms occur frequently in all languages.
Its raining cats and dogs. This phrase can be right in the sense that heavy rains is much noisy a cat and a dog are great enemies and once they meet its havoc big fight that involves big noise similar to wind and heavy rain. Published 516 pm Tuesday June 28 2016.
Categorized as formulaic language an idioms figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning. In the last analysis perhaps the true history of this phrase is one which relies on the very nonsensicality of its meaning. The phrase herding cats comes from the common saying that something involving coordination of many different groups or people is as difficult as herding cats.
Although the meaning of idioms is generally not transparent thinking about the literal meaning of this particular saying quickly establishes a sort of mental image which showcases the near impossibility of the task. All cats are grey BE in the dark. One of the commonly encountered uses of the term in technical fields is the phrase Managing programmers is like herding cats or Managing engineers is like herding cats.