"like a herd of turtles"

[Wilson Gray]

On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 2:43 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> like a herd of turtles


I know "... like a herd of turtles" only as military slang, as chance would
have it. Seeing it reminds me of another military hapax:

"Take off like a big bird!" = Do it now!

"He took off like a big bird. = He lumbered oafishly but swiftly  away.

"I took off like a big bird!" = I got the hell out of / away from there!
--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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