Herding Cats Meaning Phrase

Categorized as formulaic language an idioms figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning.

Herding cats meaning phrase. Published 516 pm Tuesday June 28 2016. Think of a clowder as the cat equivalent of a pride in other words as a herd of cats. Often used as a point of comparison in the phrase like herding cats Trying to get my two toddlers out the door these days is like herding cats.

Like herding cats is an expression you may have heard at some point. The phrase herding cats comes from the common saying that something involving coordination of many different groups or people is as difficult as herding cats. Doing something is like herding cats refers to any activity which is extremely difficult and quite possibly futile suggesting their are wildly unpredictable forces at play.

Rather than referring to cats and dogs being uprooted from thatched roofs during bad weather another competing theory the phrase is like the French urinating cow a classic example of using animal imagery to exaggerate the extremeness of the weather being described. Youve heard the phrase herding cats It means trying to organize something that is almost impossible. Getting work done in teams often feels like it is akin herding cats.

In English alone there are an estimated twenty-five thousand. To attempt to coordinate or control subjects that are uncooperative. Idiom of the Week.

Synonyms for like herding cats include Sisyphean impracticable unworkable impractical unfeasible inoperable useless unachievable unattainable and unrealizable. Used to describe something that is extremely difficult to do. Its raining cats and dogs.

In the last analysis perhaps the true history of this phrase is one which relies on the very nonsensicality of its meaning. What we need is a way of herding cats. Used to describe something.