kettling

[George Thompson]

The OED doesn't have "kettle" in the sense familiar to bird-watchers: the slow circling of a group of hawks riding an updraft.  This is a noun (a kettle of hawks) and a verb (hawks kettling over a ridge).

The idea connects with the movement of herded cattle noted by JL.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
Date: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 11:44 am
Subject: Re: kettling
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> 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
> >
> > <and from 1986 in Der Spiegel
> > 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".
> >
> > <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
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org