kettling

[Michael Quinion]

Lynne Murphy wrote

> Have you seen this, on the use of the cognate in German?
> <http://transblawg.eu/index.php?/archives/3452-kettleeinkesseln.html>

Thanks for that link. I had previously heard suggestions that it comes
from German, though nobody has provided a plausible transmission route
(though a path via British servicemen stationed there is one possibility).
Like most people who encounter it, I'm still puzzled about the image
involved, whether originally German or not. Why should "kettling" be
applied to constraining demonstrators?

--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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