The pointless flash-mob

Wed May 4 16:53:51 UTC 2011

I've always wondered if there's a connection between "flash mob" and "flash
crowd" -- the latter occurring when a website suddenly gets a very large
increase in traffic (due to, e.g., being slashdotted). Both refer to a number of
people (one actual, one virtual) suddenly appearing somewhere (actual or
vitual). The term "flash crowd" has been around since at least the mid-90s, and
takes its name from a Larry Niven story of the same name (in which crowds of
people suddenly appear via teleportation). But I have no actual evidence of an
etymological connection between flash mobs and flash crowds.

Jeff

----- Original Message ----
> From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Wed, May 4, 2011 5:25:12 AM
> Subject: Re: The pointless flash-mob
>
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society  <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:        Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:       Re: The pointless  flash-mob
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> What  possible connection is there between "flash mob" and criminal  "flash"?
>
> Without real evidence, any relationship between current and  150-year-old
> "flash mobs" must be considered coincidental.
>
> If "flash  drives" existed in 2003 (you plug in 'em briefly and then yank 'em
> out), I'd  think that has a closer semantic connection.
>
> Of course, the fact that I  know little of flash-drive history is deeply
> shaming to  me.
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 10:45 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect  Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >  Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> >  Subject:      Re: The pointless flash-mob
> >
> >
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >  A couple of additional points. There is an entry for "Flashmob" on  Dutch
> > Wiki--their "origin" information is the same as English, dating it  back to
> > 2003. There is /no/ entry at all for "flitsmeute". "Popkoor" has  no
> > separate
> > entry, but does show up in a number of places, but  that's to be expected
> > for
> > a fairly ordinary word--it might have  an idiomatic meaning that I don't
> > recognize (maybe "pop-troupe" for any  sort of pop performance, including
> > dance). Again, this is something I  just don't know.
> >
> > The Dutch and the Japanese seem to be most  fascinated with flash mobs--I
> > found the earliest Dutch one in 2004, less  than a year from the initial
> > flashmob in NYC and there have been quite a  few since. The rest are all
> > over
> > the map. Perhaps it had  something to do with the use of Macs and iPhones
> > ;-)
> >
> >  VS-)
> >
> > On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 9:38 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >  >wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > I'll take a crack combining what I  can recognize with a little
> > > GoogleTranslate:
> > >
> >  >  /Flitsmeute/ is an equivalent (calque) of /flash mob/. Of course,  these
> > > are
> > > > well-formed compounds, but we wonder  whether there is an alternative
> > way
> > > to express more
> >  > > clearly what a "flash mob" is.
> > >
> > >
> > >  Caveat--it seems somewhat doubtful that this is from 2002, especially
> >  since
> > > GB has a double volume. The original compound that led to the  first
> > > "flash-mob" performance was "smart mob" and only /after/ the  event did
> > they
> > > start referring to it as "flash mob". Or so  Wiki says.
> > >
> > > The Australian connection is not trivial.  Apparently it was a derivative
> > > from the "flash dialect" of female  convicts in Australia and Tasmania, so
> > > there "spontaneous" protests  were being referred to as "flash mob"--other
> > > than that there is no  apparent connection. The site linked to from Wiki
> > has
> > >  moved, but it's redirected. There is a lot of information, but no
> >  original
> > > language that I found--just comments on it.
> >  >
> > > Most of the interesting information is under Smart Mob (except  on
> > > Australian
> > > use), including the Howard Rheingold  book reference from 2002. Flash Mob
> > > claims that the term did not  appear until people started blogging about
> > the
> > > original  event.
> > >
> > > My [limited] understanding is that the Dutch  use "flash mob" rather than
> > > the
> > > native "flitsmeute".  Another word I found both in Flemish and in Dutch is
> > >  "Popkoor"=="pop choir", although the people involved do no actual
singing
> > > (not sure if "koor" is used in wider sense). It could be a  Flemish/Dutch
> > > difference--I have no idea.
> > >
> > >  The Dutch publication you mentioned is the equivalent of MLA
> > >  publications--but I am sure you already knew that from "taal" in the
> >  title.
> > > I can check with my Dutch friends for more details, but this  is as far as
> > I
> > > can get with the information  available.
> > >
> > > VS-)
> > >
> > > On Tue, May  3, 2011 at 7:22 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> > >  >
> > > > Ah yes, I remember the event now.  So it is  2003.  Unless someone
> > > > wants to tackle the following,  allegedly from 2002:
> > > >
> > > > FLASH MOB flitsmeute al  gebruikt als equivalent van flash mob. Dit
> > > > zijn uiteraard  welgevormde samenstellingen, maar wij vragen ons af of
> > > > er een  alternatief te bedenken is dat duidelijker uitdrukt wat een
> > > >  flash mob precies is. ...
> > > >
> > > >  From Onze  taal: maandblad van het Genootschap Onze Taal: Volumes
> > > >  71-72.  Genootschap Onze Taal (Netherlands) - 2002 - Snippet
> > >  > view.  [Journal; unconfirmed.]
> > >
> >
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