[Ads-l] elephant walk

[Ben Zimmer]

Is this the post you remember, Bill?

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2017-December/150455.html

On Tue, May 13, 2025 at 2:01 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:

> I have a strong memory of compiling cites for this term seeral years ago
> and posting it here.  But searching the archives does not yield it.
>
> This is what they look like:
> https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Photos/igphoto/2003646201/
>
> https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/3375434/an-elephant-walk-to-remember/
> https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Photos/igphoto/2003263158/
>
>
> 1965 The Springfield [Mass] Union 20 Jul 2/2
>
> The codeword exercise will involve the sounding of the alert klaxon on
> base with crew members rushing to their aircraft, starting them and taxiing
> to take-off position on the runway in a maneuver flightline observers
> commonly refer to as "the elephant walk."
>
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/1069932454/?match=2&terms=%22elephant%20walk%22%20afb
>
>
>
> 2013 Air Force Magazine Mar 55/2
>
>  It results in an “Elephant Walk,” a mass taxi after the breakneck
> preparation.
>
>
> https://www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF/MagazineArchive/Magazine%20Documents/2013/March%202013/0313kunsan.pdf
>
>
>
> 2019 Arctic Warrior 29 Mar 6/3
>
> Dozens of aircraft taxi along the runways at Joint Base
> Elmendorf-Richardson March 26 in an “Elephant walk” conducted as part of
> exercise Polar Force.
>
> https://media-cdn.dvidshub.net/pubs/pdf_46837.pdf
>
>
> 2022 Washington Post 26 May A14/2
>
> South Korea's air force conducted an "elephant walk" training exercise
> with fighter planes the day before in preparation for a possible
> provocation by North Korea, the joint chiefs said.  Elephant walking is a
> process that allows many planes to take off in close succession.
>
>
> 2024 The Beacon Jan 12
>
>  An elephant walk is what the 729th Airlift Squadron at March Air Reserve
> Base, California, demonstrated with five C-17 Globemaster III heavy cargo
> aircraft preceding a minimum interval of takeoff (MITO), which can
> facilitate rapidly launching a sortie surge of planes for mass deployment
> event.
>
>
> https://www.march.afrc.af.mil/Portals/135/BEACON/The%20Beacon%20Newsletter%20Jan%202024.pdf
>
>
>
>
> This one is not related:
> Crepeau, Richard C., "Initiation Rituals" (2000). On Sport and Society.
> 269.
>
> It is called the "elephant walk," an all male single-file procession in
> the nude in which all participants are connected in a chain by holding on
> to the penis of the person just behind. This is not a new sport, but it is
> a part of the sporting atmosphere in many male athletic settings. Most
> recently this charming ritual was in the news at the University of Vermont
> where the hockey season has come to an abrupt end.
>
>
> https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1277&context=onsportandsociety
>
> *********************************
>
> [Ads-l] elephant walk
> Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM<mailto:
> ads-l%40listserv.linguistlist.org
> ?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BAds-l%5D%20elephant%20walk&In-Reply-To=%3CCAFANsHhTekooszeLTW9i66iVbqPNiUVYXeJe5%2BZA7iz2ub3u1A%
> 40mail.gmail.com%3E>
> Sat May 10 12:14:37 UTC 2025
>
> ________________________________
>
>   https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-air-forces-massive-53-220123130.html :
>
> >Dating back to World War II, the term "elephant walk" referred to the
> taxiing of military aircraft en masse before taking off in single-file
> formations like a herd of elephants walking trunk-to-tail.<
>
> More likely an allusion to the 1954 movie, _Elephant Walk_, rerun on TV for
> at least sixty years. It ends when a herd of elephants stomps through the
> mansion of an evil plantation owner. (It starred Elizabeth Taylor, "hotter
> than hot" according to the poster.)
>
> I don't find any exx. at either Newspapers.com or GenealogyBank.
>
> JL
>
>

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