From: BillK (bill@wkidston.freeserve.co.uk)
Date: Sun Jan 12 2003 - 13:48:48 MST
Damien Broderick wrote:
> FWIW: Robert Heinlein used it a lot, way back when. It sounds like one
> of his coinages.
>
Damien might have been thinking of:
"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." --Robert A. Heinlein
The Web seems to credit the saying to Dave Platt (undated) -
"Managing senior programmers is like herding cats." -Dave Platt
I found another reference from 1985:
"At Group L, Stoffel oversees six first-rate programmers, a managerial
challenge roughly comparable to herding cats. -
The Washington Post Magazine, 9 June, 1985"
It has now become a VERY popular cliche in management and IT circles and
is used for pretty well anything that is thought to be a bit tricky.
It does appear to be a modern phrase as there is no mention in Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 1894, or a Bartleby.com literature
search, or in a quotations search.
I liked:
"Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many
ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia."
--Joseph Wood Krutch
Damien will probably like:
"Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures,
and cats like authors for the same reasons."
-- Robertson Davies (b. 1913), Canadian novelist
BillK
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