"like a herd of turtles"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Straight Dope discussion:

 http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=131044

1946 _Coe [College] Cosmos_ [Cedar Rapids, Ia.] (Jan. 30): The bell rings
and we see your favorite people and mine rushing like a herd of turtles for
the dining room.

1967 _Time_ (Sept. 22): Then, recalls Platoon Sergeant John E. Lewis, 22,
"the enemy came across the paddies in waves like a herd of turtles."

The HDAS files have several exx., but none earlier than 1946.  (_I, the
Jury_, [1952], affords it an appearance in classic literature.) 169,000 raw
Google hits.

The usual implication is not slowness but headlong confusion.

Don't know about anyone else, but I recognize "your favorite people and
mine" as a TV-radio cliche' of the godawfully distant past. Seven raw
Google hits besides the newspaper.

JL



--
"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