ride herd

[ostap77]

"After being bumped up to manager, I'm going to have to ride herd on the staff."

Do you use this expression in conversation?

 

[bhaisahab]

"After being bumped up to manager, I'm going to have to ride herd on the staff."

Do you use this expression in conversation?

Never in my life.

 

[riquecohen]

"After being bumped up to manager, I'm going to have to ride herd on the staff."

Do you use this expression in conversation?

I don't use it, as it seems to equate staff to cattle. It is, however, used by some.

 

[freezeframe]

ride herd on - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

I don't and I've never met anyone else who does. I'm in central Canada.

 

[ostap77]

I don't use it, as it seems to equate staff to cattle. It is, however, used by some.

Would you interpret that it conveys the same connotation, if I said that the tourists herded onto the bus or the students herded into the auditorium for an exam?

 

[bhaisahab]

Would you interpret that it conveys the same conotation, if I said that the tourists herded onto the bus or the students herded into the auditorium for an exam?

People (or animals) don't herd themselves, they are herded by somebody else. "The students were herded..." "The tourists were herded..." and yes, for me it carries the same connotation. That of treating people like cattle.

 

[freezeframe]

Would you interpret that it conveys the same conotation, if I said that the tourists herded onto the bus or the students herded into the auditorium for an exam?

No. They don't mean the same thing.

According to ride herd on - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. "ride herd on" means:

Fig. to supervise someone or something. (Alludes to a cowboy supervising cattle.)
to be responsible for controlling a group of people and their actions


"To herd" means to move people as a group.

 

[ostap77]

No. They don't mean the same thing.

According to ride herd on - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. "ride herd on" means:

Fig. to supervise someone or something. (Alludes to a cowboy supervising cattle.)
to be responsible for controlling a group of people and their actions


"To herd" means to move people as a group.

Don't get me wrong I'm just trying to figure out if it's possible to use it.

"Meaning:
1 [+ obj] : to gather and move (a group of animals) ▪ herd cattle ▪ The horses were herded into the corral.
2 a [+ obj] : to move (people) in a group ▪ We left the hotel and were herded onto a bus. ▪ They herded the students into the auditorium. b [no obj] : to form a group or move as a group ▪ The commuters herded onto the train.
—herd·er /ˈhɚdɚ/ noun plural herd·ers [count]"

 

[freezeframe]

Yes you can herd people. It implies that they're just moved about like animals.


If you've ever watched a tour bus full of tourists, you know exactly what it looks like. :-D

 

[ostap77]

Yes you can herd people. It implies that they're just moved about like animals.


If you've ever watched a tour bus full of tourists, you know exactly what it looks like. :-D

It also says that people can move like animals without being herded by other people.

 

[bhaisahab]

Don't get me wrong I'm just trying to figure out if it's possible to use it.

"Meaning:
1 [+ obj] : to gather and move (a group of animals) ▪ herd cattle ▪ The horses were herded into the corral.
2 a [+ obj] : to move (people) in a group ▪ We left the hotel and were herded onto a bus. ▪ They herded the students into the auditorium. b [no obj] : to form a group or move as a group ▪ The commuters herded onto the train.
—herd·er /ˈhɚdɚ/ noun plural herd·ers [count]"

Where does this definition come from, ostap?

 

[allenman]

"After being bumped up to manager, I'm going to have to ride herd on the staff."

Do you use this expression in conversation?

Absolutely. This is a very common expression in my part of the world (Texas, United States). It is used regularly here.
In fact I am guilty of saying it quite a bit!

Not a teacher

 

[ostap77]

Where does this definition come from, ostap?

Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary

 

[BobK]

'The commuters herded into the train' isn't anything I've ever heard. The word is sometimes used to refer to the process of forming a herd: 'Every year at this time hundreds of thousands of wildebeest herd before migrating in search of the lush grass of <wherever>'.

In my experience, commuters crowd[/U ]or squeeze or squash themselves into carriages. They can also swarm into them, but that's slightly more dynamic.

b

 

[ostap77]

'The commuters herded into the train' isn't anything I've ever heard. The word is sometimes used to refer to the process of forming a herd: 'Every year at this time hundreds of thousands of wildebeest herd before migrating in search of the lush grass of <wherever>'.

In my experience, commuters crowd[/U ]or squeeze or squash themselves into carriages. They can also swarm into them, but that's slightly more dynamic.

b

I just wanted to let bhaisahad know where I snaged this information from.

 

[freezeframe]

'The commuters herded into the train' isn't anything I've ever heard. The word is sometimes used to refer to the process of forming a herd: 'Every year at this time hundreds of thousands of wildebeest herd before migrating in search of the lush grass of <wherever>'.

In my experience, commuters crowd[/U ]or squeeze or squash themselves into carriages. They can also swarm into them, but that's slightly more dynamic.

b

It seemed like normal usage to me.

Here in Canada they do indeed "herd onto the train" in a very disorderly manner. It's not that there's not enough space, which squeezing or squashing would imply, but they're just moving like a herd of sheep.

 

[Barb_D]

At my workplace, we often talk about "cat herding." That would be an impossible task. Trying to get a group of (usually high level) managers to act together -- like returning to a meeting room after a break, while they are all on their Blackberries -- is almost as impossible. The meeting organizer might ask someone to go out there and herd the cats, meaning to try to get the managers to return to the meeting room.

However, in response to the original question, I don't think we'd talk about "riding herd" on your employees, though I would talk about riding herd on a group of school children out on a field trip.

 

[JMurray]

In these parts, people often say that they were herded onto a bus or train, in or out of a hall, into the next room; wherever folk are obliged or prompted to move as a group. Even if it's merely by someone holding the door open and saying, "If you would kindly move through here ladies and gentlemen, the speeches are starting in a minute". The next day it will be: "They herded us into the next room before I had a chance to get to the bar!".

 

[allenman]

Understand that in our parts it has specific meaning "to supervise with very strict control" -- nothing to do with moving people into elevators, trains, rooms

I suspect if you don't say it in your everyday lingo it has little meaning.

 

[JTRiff]

not teacher

Ride herd is a cowboy term, Zane Grey probably used it a lot. )
The cowboys with the lassos, circling the herd, they are riding herd.