Did you ever walk in a crocodile? In Britain, a crocodile can be “a group of children walking two by two in a long file.” The phrase came up in an interview with the stylist Vidal Sassoon, who, as a child in London walked in a crocodile to school with other Jewish students being heckled by Nazi sympathizers. (Here is an interesting interview with him on Fresh Air.) This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Walk in a Crocodile”
Well, you know, I always love it when a word sends me running to the dictionary.
You know, I’m reading something and I either come across a word I don’t know at all, or I come across a word that’s been used in a way that I’ve never seen before.
I’m sure you have the same experience, Grant.
Yep, all the time.
It’s really fun.
And that happened to me this week when I was reading an article about the hairstylist Vidal Sassoon.
I’m bug-eyed, wondering where this is going or why I was reading about it.
Actually, there’s a new documentary coming out about him that sounds very interesting.
He was the guy who was famous for his Sassoon bob, really short haircut.
And it turns out that he had a very interesting life.
He grew up very poor in England.
He spent time in a Jewish orphanage.
And in fact, later in his life, he fought in the Israeli army.
And I was reading his account of facing anti-Semitic abuse as a youngster.
And he describes these hooligans shouting insults and throwing things at the Jewish students as they walked to school.
And he said for that reason, he and his fellow students had to walk to school in a crocodile.
So this is like the turtle formation that the Romans used to use, right?
A turtle formation?
Yeah, with the shields up so you’re all together in one body.
It’s about a legion walking together, right?
Well, sort of.
I mean, I went running to the Oxford English Dictionary and then learned what I suspected was the case, which is a crocodile in Britain is children walking two by two in a long file to school.
Oh, and the crocodiles go across the zebra crossing.
Right, right, or the zebra, as they say.
The zebra crossing.
Yeah, yeah, the crosswalk that looks like, you know, with a black and white stripe.
So it was a great example of one of those words where it’s a perfectly commonplace word.
I mean, I don’t talk about crocodiles every day, but the fact that it was used in that way sent me running to the dictionary.
I’ve heard that called a walking bus here in the U.S.
A walking bus.
Right. Two columns of kids, right?
Walking kind of a rectangular formation down the street together, usually holding hands.
That’s really cool. A walking bus or a crocodile.
Interesting.
Wow.
Crazy words. Share what you find in your reading.
Or call us and tell us about it 877-929-9673.
