kettling

[Jonathan Lighter]

The underlying concept, as indicated above, reminds me of the old cowboy
song (a1908) about "turning" stampeding cattle:

"And when the herd stampeded he was always on the spot,
And he sets them critters millin' like the boilin' of a pot."

"Milling" means moving in circles.

JL
On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 11:04 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: kettling
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In Google I find "Polizeikessel" from 1987 in Die Zeit:
> http://bit.ly/gQPNqJ
>
> <http://bit.ly/gQPNqJ>and from 1986 in Der Spiegel
> http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13518504.html
>
> <http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13518504.html>Der Spiegel has a
> pretty good English site, and I looked for an article available in both
> languages with the word Polizeikessel, but the magazine seems to have
> finessed the issue in the past.
>
> "Die bunte Truppe Demonstranten sitzt im Polizeikessel und wei=DF nicht
> rec=
> ht
> weiter."
> http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,616884,00.html
> April 1, 2009
>
> gets translated as
>
> The colorful group of protestors, surrounded by police, suddenly has no
> place to go.
> http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,616931,00.html
> April 2, 2009
>
> So, 20 months ago, Der Spiegel did not recognize "kettling".
>
> <http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,616931,00.html>DanG
>
> On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 9:29 AM, Michael Quinion <
> wordseditor at worldwidewords.org> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Michael Quinion <wordseditor at WORLDWIDEWORDS.ORG>
> > Organization: World Wide Words
> > Subject:      Re: kettling
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > Paul Frank wrote:
> >
> > > In German, the verb "einkesseln" has been around for quite some time.
> > > The eight-volume Duden (2nd edition, 1993) defines it as "v=F6llig
> > > einschliessen" (to surround and enclose completely) and explains that
> i=
> t
> > is
> > > mainly used in military contexts. The first citation is from 1973. But
> > > anyone who has read German accounts of the Battle of Stalingrad knows
> > that
> > > the word was already in use in 1943. Grimm's Deutsches W=F6rterbuch
> > > (1838-1961) defines the noun Kessel as "bei jagden der rings
> geschlosse=
> ne
> > > platz, wohin das wild getrieben wird" (roughly: encircled place where
> t=
>  he
> > > wild game is driven during the hunt). My uneducated guess is that that
> =
> is
> > > where the military meaning comes from in German.
> >
> > That's very helpful. I now also see that Wikipedia Germany has an article
> > on the term "Polizeikessel", with exactly the same sense as the British
> > term. However, the implication is that it is rather older than the first
> > examples in the British press, from the G2 summit in April 2009. Sharing
> > of experience, and of vocabulary, between the two national police forces
> > seems plausible and this would make "kettling" a loan translation.
> >
> > --
> > Michael Quinion
> > Editor, World Wide Words
> > Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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