[Ads-l] waddle

[Jonathan Lighter]

2021 _New Yorker_ (Jan. 25) 4: A group of penguins in the water is called a
raft - on land, they become a waddle.

OED has "raft" for aquatic birds from 1709, but no "waddle" of anything.
How little know they of our native tongue!

1963 Red Smith, in _Philadelphia Inquirer_ (Jan. 18) 37: Mr. Lillis
imported a waddle of penguins who lined up at the clubhouse gate in their
snappy thermal attire and were the first clients admitted.

2004  Richard Spilsbury and Louise Spilsbury _A Rookery of Penguins_
(Chicago: Heinemann) 29:  What is a waddle of penguins? Some people call a
group of penguins a waddle, because of the way they walk.

Smith was a popular, widely syndicated sports columnist. Many zoo people
must have read this column.

JL



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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