"Packed like sardines/herrings"

[Victoria Neufeldt]

Not necessarily.  The two versions could have been coined independently.
One thing that would need to be checked is when sardines and herrings were
first packed tightly in boxes or tins.  But that may be too long ago to be
of use if the phrases aren't used before the mid 19th century.

Victoria

Victoria Neufeldt, Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street, P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA  01102
Tel. (413) 734-3134 ext 124
Fax  (413) 827-7262

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Bapopik at AOL.COM
> Sent: Monday, October 11, 1999 1:02 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "Packed like sardines/herrings"
>
>
>      Why sardines?
>      In a previous posting, I wrote that people on the Lexington Avenue
> subway line were "packed like sardines."
>      This is from the BARNHART DICTIONARY OF ETYMOLOGY (Amazon's "Eyes"
> recently announced a new book called the CHAMBERS DICTIONARY OF ETYMOLOGY,
> but it's BARNHART with a different name):
>
> _sardine_ (...)--v. Informal. to pack closely, crowd, cram.
> 1895, American
> English, from the noun, as used in the phrase _packed like
> sardines_ (1911).
>
>     Christine Ammer's AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF IDIOMS has
> "late 1800s"
> for _packed in like sardines_.
>     The Making of America database has:
>
> March 1855, DEBOW'S REVIEW, pg. 300--...made them lie down in each other's
> laps, like _sardines_ in a can, and in this way obtained space
> for the entire
> cargo.  (The article is "The African Slave Trade," and this
> quotation comes
> from "Capt. Canot, Twenty Years of an African Slaver," perhaps
> referring to
> 1826--ed.)
> March 1869, OVERLAND MONTHLY AND OUT WEST MAGAZINE, pg.
> 273--...packed like
> herrings in a cask, or sardines in a box, we...
>
>     Herrings!  Ah, so sardines have some packing competition!
>
> March 1846, LADIES' REPOSITORY, pg. 67--...packed, close as a box of
> herrings...
> March 1851, SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER, pg. 180--...the guests
> have as much
> elbow room as the herrings in a box...
> July 1854, SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER, pg. 430--...packed together like
> herrings in a barrel...
> September 1870, LADIES' REPOSITORY, pg. 231--...eight babies were packed
> around the walls like herrings in a box.
> 1871, WESTWARD BY RAIL by W. Fraser Rae, pg. 294--The common saying about
> being packed as closely as herrings in a barrel...
>
>     It appears from the above that the phrase began as herrings in a
> barrel/box/cask, and then became sardines in a can.  This should
> be recorded.
>     The phrase is now "packed as tightly as my travel luggage on a return
> trip."
>