Thursday, May 24, 2007

Word of the day

Today's word is: mobbing. This is what the OED offers:

1. a. The action of a mob or group of people in attacking, harassing, or crowding round a person (now esp. in adulation or acclamation); an instance of this. Also: the action or an act of congregating in a mob or crowd.

It is apparently an ornithological term, used of flocks which turn on one particular member. But it is a useful description of occasional human behaviour too.

3 comments:

stc said...

absolutely agree with this. and it doesn't make it OK whether you're justified or not.....

stc said...

absolutely agree with this. and it doesn't make it OK whether you're justified or not.....or whether you're "right" or not.

RJR said...

What's the practical solution to this? The only thing I've thought of so far is making a deliberate effort to talk to people who may be in that situation, but about neutral topics (and briefly, because frankly I don't really want to).