[Ads-l] Buzzard grouponyms

[Ben Zimmer]

Here's my WSJ column on "kettling" from June 2020:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/kettling-from-german-military-tactics-to-u-s-city-streets-11591968294?st=guig27ome26kyod&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

On Mon, Dec 27, 2021 at 1:35 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> I learned that sense of "kettling" when it was in the news 18 months ago in
> reference to the corralling of protestors at the event in Lafayette Park
> culminating in the photo-op of the former guy holding up someone's Bible
> upside down.
>
> LH
>
> On Mon, Dec 27, 2021 at 8:41 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > MW is also silent on all of the above, including the verb. However, the
> > recent transitive sense (2009), 'to corral or contain (people) in large
> > numbers by surrounding and forcing into an enclosed area,' seems related.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Mon, Dec 27, 2021 at 7:59 AM Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Actually, and I think there are better birders than me here, "kettling"
> > > is not just flying: it's that circling around an area in the air, and
> > > it's not just buzzards/vultures that do it. You'll see other raptors do
> > > it. I am much more familiar with it as a verb than as a noun in
> birding.
> > >
> > > ---Amy West
> > >
> > > On 12/27/21 00:00, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> > > > There are 2 messages totaling 87 lines in this issue.
> > > >
> > > > Topics of the day:
> > > >
> > > >    1. Buzzard grouponyms (2)
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > >
> > > >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > Date:    Sun, 26 Dec 2021 11:08:56 -0500
> > > > From:    Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > Subject: Buzzard grouponyms
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> https://www.yahoo.com/news/kat-bergeron-cool-things-learned-060000703.html
> > > :
> > > >
> > > > "Did you know that a group of our buzzard-vultures is called a
> > committee,
> > > > venue or volt? A flock in flight is a kettle. When they congregate
> on a
> > > > feeding ground to share dinner, that’s called a wake."
> > > >
> > > > Almost needless to say, none of these terms is in OED.
> > > >
>

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