Hello everybody!
Today we are going to speak about the expression something is like herding cats. When we look at this idiom, it doesn’t make really sense. You can herd cattle, like cows. During the day, cows eat grass. We can also say that cows graze on grass. When your cows graze on grass in the meadow, you want to keep them in one place. You herd them. The cows are organized in a group. They are supposed to stay together so that no member of this group gets lost. When it’s time to call it a day and go to sleep, all the cows return to their home, which is called a cowshed. It’s necessary that the cows walk calmly into their cowshed without being silly. You don’t want to chase after runaway cows or look for cows that had gotten lost.
For obvious reasons, it’s necessary to herd cows. The word herd can be a verb and a noun. People herd cows. A group of cows is called a herd of cows.
A group of elephants is also called a herd. If you go on vacation to Africa and decide to go on a safari, you can see herds of elephants if you’re lucky enough. If you imagine a group of elephants, the elephants are also well-organized. Just like cows. At least they seem to be. The elephants walk toward their destination. Because they’re herd animals, they stick together.
And now back to our expression something is like herding cats. If you imagine a cat, you can see that she does whatever she feels like doing. She stretches, falls asleep, hides in a box, runs away, and shows up several hours later to get some delicious cat food. Can you imagine a group of cats being organized and moving forward in one direction? Not really. It’s impossible to organize cats. Cats don’t move in herds. They are individuals doing whatever they please.
What would happen if you tried to herd them? You could give it a shot, but it would be a mess. If you had a group of cats, each cat would be doing something different. One cat would be climbing up the curtain, one would be trying to catch a bird, another one would be sharpening her claws against the sofa, another one would start running around the room like mad, and another one would knock down a vase. I’m sure there would be a cat falling into an aquarium full of frightened goldfish. This is what herding cats would probably look like. It would be complete craziness.
When you work with people and you feel you can’t achieve any progress due to their lack of attention and them being easily distracted and not organized at all, you can say that working with these people is like herding cats.
This expression is typically used when you speak about naughty children in a classroom. Little Tommy is pulling at Jane’s hair, Johnny is drawing on the wall with a purple marker, Sandy has just stuck a piece of chewing gum behind her ear, Timmy spilled his orange juice all over the table, a group of children in the back rows are talking and talking and talking… The frustrated teacher says, “This is like herding cats!”
Although the teacher tried really hard to keep things organized, the kids were not willing to do what they were supposed to do.
Maybe a guide is taking care of tourists who do just what they want instead of quietly listening and looking at the historical monuments they are being shown. They scatter all over the place, take pictures in spots they aren’t allowed to, and get lost. They make the poor guide feel he’s herding cats instead of showing a group of tourists around.
The expression something is like herding cats could also be used to describe a meeting in a company. This meeting would not be a productive one at all. One participant is reading text messages on his phone, another one has just spilled his cup of coffee, and another one went to the bathroom to get some paper towels to clean up the mess. On top of all that, when he leaves the meeting room, the door gives a loud creak. There are many other things people do instead of listening to plans on how to use the company budget or paying attention to charts showing demand for the new product. You name it. Trying to get this terrible team somewhere would be like herding cats.
As we can see, we can’t really have a herd of cats. Apart from the word herd, there are other specific words in English describing groups of animals.
Wolves and other canines come in packs. You can have a pack of wolves, a pack of dogs, or a pack of hounds. Hounds are dogs that were originally meant for hunting.
A group of lions is called a pride of lions.
A group of sheep is called a flock. This word is also used when we speak about birds.
Let’s have a look at animals living in the sea. Dolphins swim in a pod. When there is a group consisting of a large number of smaller fish, we can call it a school of fish or a shoal of fish.
A group of ravens is called a murder of ravens. It’s a quite dark expression.
When puppies are born, we call the cute group a litter. We can also have a litter of kittens.
Let’s revise these expressions for animal groups:
a pack of wolves
a pack of dogs
a pack of hounds
a pride of lions
a flock of sheep
a flock of birds
a herd of cows
herds of elephants
a pod of dolphins
a school of fish
a shoal of fish
a murder of ravens
a litter of puppies
a litter of kittens
Managing a litter of puppies or kittens might also be like herding cats. It’s not easy at all. Little babies want to explore the world on their own.
And what about you? Have you ever felt you were herding cats?