# Name for idiosyncratic walk?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 8, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985 "2015-11-08T03:08:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/1 "2015-11-08T03:08:34Z")
Most of us move forward the left leg and right arm, right leg and left arm, when we walk. Is there a name for people who move left left and left arm, right leg and right arm, or for the “technique”? A nickname used in the armed forces when these people are being taught to march? Thanks.
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/2 "2015-11-08T03:22:12Z")
Well a horse that moves both legs on the same side together is called a pacer so perhaps there’s a take-off on that.
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### Author:  [@Sputnikkk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sputnikkk)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/3 "2015-11-08T10:44:29Z")
military swagger?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/4 "2015-11-08T13:36:14Z")
When my uncle was in the Army, he used to do this deliberately, to throw off all the people behind him. I don’t think anyone ever gave what he was doing a name, though.
I also don’t think this is the natural gait for anyone, so it only happens when someone does it consciously (like my uncle did).
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### Author:  [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/5 "2015-11-08T14:29:54Z")
I can tell you that it’s “squaregaiting” in the Royal Australian Navy (and possibly in other branches of the services).
(The fact that they have a name for it doesn’t mean that they practice it. It’s an error, named so that it can be referred to for correction.)
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### Author:  [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/6 "2015-11-08T14:59:36Z")
You should ask this question over at the British Ministry of Silly Walks web site.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV2ViNJFZC8)
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/7 "2015-11-08T15:14:41Z")
[quote=“JerrySTL, post:6, topic:736985”]
You should ask this question over at the British Ministry of Silly Walks web site.
[/QUOTE]
What the OP describes is not particularly silly.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/8 "2015-11-08T16:33:16Z")
**Bear Nenno** , I believe, has answered and quite some length in a GQ thread about the techniques of marching and cadence in the US military.
A quick search will find that thread, for starters.
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### Author:  [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/9 "2015-11-08T16:39:25Z")
The “Nutcracker.”
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/10 "2015-11-08T17:52:14Z")
I thought there was a sitcom episode that described it as walking like a bear.
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/11 "2015-11-08T22:13:09Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#):
>
> Most of us move forward the left leg and right arm, right leg and left arm, when we walk. Is there a name for people who move left left and left arm, right leg and right arm, or for the “technique”? A nickname used in the armed forces when these people are being taught to march? Thanks.
If I understand your question, you are not talking about an actual marching technique. You are asking about people who are thinking so hard about marching they actually start moving the same-side arm and leg simultaneously instead of alternating arm and leg. I don’t know of any individual or organization that walks like this on purpose. I’ve only seen it when people are being taught to march, or are participating in a ceremony and they step off incorrectly, so they’re all fucked up but it is actually difficult to stop the right-leg/right-arm walking without stopping and restarting. Otherwise, it takes at least a half-dozen more steps to get un-fucked. Everyone gets a good laugh out of it.
We do indeed have a name for this “technique” in the Army. It’s called the “monster mash” or “monster mashing”.
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### Author:  [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/12 "2015-11-08T23:56:53Z")
This is the gait of the Thermians in Galaxy Quest … I don’t recall it getting a name there though.
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### Author:  [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/13 "2015-11-09T00:33:21Z")
Bear Nenno, you’re right, I wasn’t wondering if people were trained to march that way. A former Canadian prime minister was rumoured to walk that way and I have known a couple of people who naturally walked that way. It was a wonder to behold. One could feel something was wrong but figuring it out took some thought.
I presumed there must be others and that some would have found their way into some organization that would have had to deal with it. Armies seemed more likely than, say marching bands. And I figured if it were a thing, it would have a name, if only so a drill inspector could say “you don’t do that squaregaiting monster mash in this man’s army.”
This is helpful, thanks.
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/14 "2015-11-09T03:34:18Z")
What’s funny is they usually have no trouble walking normally, but as soon as they start marching, they’re all fucked up.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2015, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/15 "2015-11-09T04:25:57Z")
There’s no term for such marching or walking in the Marine Corps.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2015, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/16 "2015-11-09T11:11:32Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#):
>
> What’s funny is they usually have no trouble walking normally, but as soon as they start marching, they’re all fucked up.
The people I’ve seen who have had the most trouble marching actually don’t really move their arms at all when walking normally, they just kind of droop at the sides of their body. Make them swing their arms and they literally don’t know how to do it. It’s pretty bad in these cases because you basically have to teach them how to walk. There was one guy I know of who just never got it.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/17 "2015-11-09T19:08:36Z")
Or, they\* do\* know how to walk, and don’t think they need their arms for it. e\_e
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/18 "2015-11-09T20:24:50Z")
> [@Bullitt](#):
>
> There’s no term for such marching or walking in the Marine Corps.
🙂
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### Author:  [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/19 "2015-11-10T01:56:58Z")
> [@UDS](#):
>
> I can tell you that it’s “squaregaiting” in the Royal Australian Navy (and possibly in other branches of the services).
>
> (The fact that they have a name for it doesn’t mean that they practice it. It’s an error, named so that it can be referred to for correction.)
In equine context, horses square gait … English language everywhere english is spoke.
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### Author:  [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-idiosyncratic-walk/736985/20 "2015-11-10T02:33:07Z")
> [@Isilder](#):
>
> **In equine context, horses square gait** … English language everywhere english is spoke.
Yes, but it has the exact opposite meaning!
[http://www.glossarycentral.com/horse\_racing/square\_gaiting.html](http://www.glossarycentral.com/horse_racing/square_gaiting.html)
The motion described by the OP would be _pacing_.
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