This morning I heard Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell say (in reference to getting Congress to deny appropriations to an agency),
“…Between us [the Senate] and the 435 folks on the other side, it’s like a herd of cats.”
Or something very similar to that, anyway (I’m not a great note taker). Now, I’ve never heard this phrase before, but I have seen that pretty hilarious Super Bowl commercial about the “cat herders.” A quick Google search showed the phrase being used almost exclusively with reference to Congress and other legislative bodies. Can anyone tell me more about the origins of this descriptive phrase?
My old boss used to say “like herding cats” to describe dealing with a group of difficult people. He also used to use the phrase “like a box of puppies” or “like trying to keep puppies in a box” to describe, for example, the difficulty of gathering his subordinates for a meeting. This was circa 1990-1994.
“The analyst went barking up the wrong tree, of course. I never should have mentioned unicorns to a Freudian.” – Dottie (“Jumpers” by Tom Stoppard)
This saying was comically brought to life in the best commercial aired during the past Super Bowl…
I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
Three days, 15 hours, 51 minutes and 43 seconds.
146 cigarettes not smoked, saving $18.30.
Life saved: 12 hours, 10 minutes.
In Close to the Machine Ellen Ullman says that managing software engineers is like herding cats. Her point is that you need them all to move in more or less the same direction, but you don’t want to stifle in them the independence of spirit that makes them cats in the first place.
