Discussion
“It’s like herding cats” feels like it should be ancient, but lexicographer Jeremy Butterfield says the OED’s first record of it is from 1986. It’s a US coinage, and it caught on fast because it’s so useful.
Jeremy’s new book is “The Metaphor Zoo.”
WATCH: https://youtu.be/DkjTvNZlzLg
READ: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/transcripts/grammar-girl/1237/
LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229
YouTube
@ai6yr @grammargirl 1986? that's the same year @irene was born! and she regularly walks multiple cats on a leash... coincidence? I THINK NOT.
@ai6yr @grammargirl Once upon a time, we had four cats. My sister-in-law came to visit with her Border Collie. He spent the entire visit trying to herd the cats - poor thing was utterly tuckered out by the time he went home. It was a real-life demonstration! Trying and failing to remember exactly when that was, and whether I knew the phrase before the visit or just attached the phrase to my memory when I heard it.
@grammargirl 1986?!?!?!? Wow.