The OED gives the first example of the metaphorical use from a 1959 book (“Home-going office workers…potent in mass as a lemming migration“), but Google Ngrams throws up an example from the 1930s: “…logicians fling themselves headlong in hordes, like lemmings; and suicidally discuss the import of ‘propositions’ such as ‘The King of Utopia died last Sunday…,” from The Principles of Art by the British philosopher R.G. ( Log Out /  Norwegian words in EnglishZen to Aardvark. As they approach the "sea," (actually a river -more tight cropping) Hibbler continues, "They've become victims of an obsession -- a one-track thought: Move on! It also found its place in 19th century poetry in a sonnet by Tennyson that is somewhat unusual in having fifteen lines rather than the normal fourteen. The objective of the game is to guide a group of anthropomorphised lemmings through a number of obstacles to a designated exit. The misperception was the result of Disney documentary … Obviously in choosing lemmings over humanity in prehistory they chose poorly, for them. Lemmings is a puzzle-platformer video game originally developed by DMA Design and first published by Psygnosis for the Amiga, Atari ST and PC in 1991. For a long time they were thought to fall from the sky. Arthur C Clarke’s 1953 short story “The Possessed” gives the lemmings-to-the-sea tale a definite science fiction twist by positing alien lifeforms who survived by a parasitic mental joining with another species. Clever camera angles and good editing made it look real, but the (actually rather few) lemmings were cascading into a river, not into the sea, and they were, it seems, being launched from a rotating turntable. Certainly, when they are angry one of the noises they make sounds not dissimilar to the bark of a small dog. (The prosaic truth is that they migrate in herds.) Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, The objective of the game is to guide a group of humanoid lemmings through The Scandinavian variety, Lemmus lemmus, migrates periodically when its population reaches a peak. The epic PlayStation game is now on mobile! Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Include Chaos, Dear Middle-Class People: It’s Time To Cut the Entitled ‘Networking’ Crap, White Fragility: Why It's So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism, Emotional Intelligence Isn’t Just Being A ‘Nice Guy’, How to Financially Prepare for a Divorce: 3 Assets You’ll Need to Split, Givers Need Boundaries Because Takers Don’t Have Any. To save the required number of lemmings to win, one must determine how to assign a limited number of eight different skills to specific lemmings that allow the selected lemming to alter the landscape, to affect the behaviour of other lemmings, or to clear obstacles to … There hath he lain for ages and will lie Keep in mind that the abbreviation of LOTO is widely used in industries like banking, computing, educational, finance, governmental, and health. Answer Save. Far from succumbing to suicidal groupthink, these creatures live solitary, hermitic lives, only associating with others, as they must, for mating purposes. See also: Lemmings and lèmmings Lemmings to the Sea: The Inappropriate Use of Financial Ratios in Empirical Analysis Susanne Trimbath, Research Economist Milken Institute 1250 4th Street Santa Monica, CA 90401 (310) 998-2647 strimbath@milkeninstitute.org ABSTRACT Despite the theoretical underpinnings for the use of equity and earnings in economic analysis, certain financial ratios are not suited for econometric models. However, the examples seem to suggest that it is different from “lambs to the slaughter”. The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee on Like lemmings to the slaughter? Actually no, they don't. Change ). Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. It is interesting that in Norwegian the sk is pronounced sh, the pronunciation reflected in Italian sciare. (Translation) “Which…happens in Norway, namely that little four-footed creatures, called Lemmar or Lemmus, of the size of shrewmice, with variegated hide, fall from the sky through storms and sudden showers.”. The Reality That All Women Experience That Men Don’t Know About, Relationships Aren't Easy, But They're Worth It, Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person, The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men's Lives is a Killer, What We Talk About When We Talk About Men: The Top 12 Issues Men Face Today, 10 Things Good Men Should Never Do in a Relationship, The First Myth of Patriarchy: The Acorn on the Pillow, I Used To Be a 'Real Man' Now I'm Teaching My Sons To Be Human. They look something like a gerbil or hamster. These appealing northern rodents are the victims of a bad press—or at least a very inaccurate one. Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep, It purported to show wave after wave of lemmings plummeting over precipitous cliffs into the Arctic Ocean. Obviously in choosing lemmings over humanity in prehistory they chose poorly, for them. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Anonymous. lemming. A compelling sequence from a 1958 Walt Disney short nature film entitled White Wilderness has  a lot to do with it. Typically, an explicit comparison is made using the preposition like. Lemming is not the most common word English has borrowed from Norwegian. That is, except for the lemming—a small, furry, gerbil-like rodent that has come to be defined by its alleged tendency to mindlessly kill itself by jumping off of cliffs. Is Hating Trump Supporters Eating You up Inside? Definition of Lemmings in the Definitions.net dictionary. Learn how your comment data is processed. It was, however, a cruel fake. One of the curiosities of English is why this diminutive creature has become a byword for impulsive herdlike behaviour, even mass hysteria. About lemmings he wrote: “Quod…in Noruegia…euenit, scilicet vt bestiolæ quadrupedes, Lemmar, vel Lemmus dictæ, magnitudine soricis, pelle varia, per tempestates & repentinos imbres è cœlo decidant“. A google for those exact phrases throws up under 3,000 for the rodent one, but over 650,000 for the ovine one. Like Lemmings to the Sea: We Cannot Stop Our Addiction to Fossil Fuels. Divorce is rarely pleasant, but proper preparation can smooth things out. "This is the last chance to turn back," Hibbler states. The Norwegian lemming, Lemmus lemmus, travels considerable distances in its migrations. Google them up for more info. An absence of romantic love has been one of the major reasons couples give for divorce. Lemmings are small creatures with wild reputations. ( Log Out /  Common actions … Tendentiously, as in: At present, all countries of the world are marching like lemmings over the philosophical precipice to collectivism. Collingwood. The lemming, every few years, gathers together with a great many other lemmings, and they all march together- to the sea. Lemmings are animals who follow each other and jump into the sea to their deaths. A Norwegian word in English. I mean just look at this little guy: Lemmings live underground during the harsh winters, but come above ground during the warmer months – when they can get busy with each other fast. The first Ngrams example I can find is from 1952: He walked from Grand Central to Eighth Street, kids hitting New York go downtown like lemmings to the sea, and he was a confirmed New Yorker by Thirty-fourth. Information and translations of Lemmings in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. Below the thunders of the upper deep; Lemming definition: A lemming is an animal that looks like a large rat with thick fur . A Norwegian word in English. Huge sponges of millennial growth and height; Norwegian has also given the skiing world the term slalom, the downhill race, from slalåm, (from sla sloping + låm track). Or you can go on with business as usual.”. They are widespread in the cooler north of Eurasia and North America and range from three to six inches in length. Since they can swim, they may attempt to cross stretches of water that are beyond their abilities and consequently drown. Historically, collared and brown lemming populations fluctuate dramatically, with highest levels reached every two to five years. Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green. The lemming and all the other lemmings march shoulder to shoulder and when they reach the sea they do a very strange thing: They jump in and drown. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. As a result, … (Animals) any of various volelike rodents of the genus Lemmus and related genera, of northern and arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America: family Cricetidae. About his shadowy sides: above him swell Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary. - The classic game revived with new HD visuals and beautiful animation! The Time and the Place, (a novel), Robert Paul Smith, 1952. It is also said that Disney filmed them doing this by moving them to unfamiliar territory. I did some research on why a little while back, but it says nobody knows for sure why. …the run of articles about how being tall and good looking and banging Playmates who line up like lemmings ready to fall over his penis made Michael Bay…. Arthur C Clarke’s 1953 short story “The Possessed” gives the lemmings-to-the-sea tale a definite science fiction twist by positing alien lifeforms who survived by a parasitic mental joining with another species. See more. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. They are also aggressive towards predators. One thing I’ve noticed about Portland is that the pedestrians here have a deathwish…“. Its most famous English incarnation is probably in the title of the 1953 sci-fi novel The Kraken Wakes, by John Wyndham. Lemming describes twenty species subdivided into six genera and belonging to the same superfamily as rats, mice, gerbils and hamsters. The set phrase “like lemmings to the sea” seems to have emerged in the 1950s. Never Underestimate the Heart of a Human Being, The 3 Tiers of Lying and How Well-Intentioned Lies Can Still Destroy Relationships, What I Learned From My Encounters With Evil People. Leaving aside the obvious fjord, that honour must surely go to ski, first recorded as a noun in 1755, and as a verb only as late as 1893. The game was programmed by Mike Dailly and David Jones, and was inspired by a simple animation that Dailly created while experimenting with Deluxe Paint. ( ˈlɛmɪŋ) n. 1. Like lemmings to the sea? A derogatory term used to reference a person who seemingly does not possess any form of individual thought, and instead, mindlessly follows the behaviors and actions of the masses. What does Lemmings mean? Favorite Answer. On the contrary, they fall off quite by accident. A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes.Lemmings make up the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also includes rats, mice, hamsters, and gerbils.In popular culture, a longstanding myth holds that they commit mass suicide. Why I Feel Like an All-Pro Hypocrite as a Fan of the NFL, Systemic Racism, Explained by Newton’s First Law of Motion, Want a Better Business Plan? In one example it’s the heading to a blog (spamdalot) that continues as shown: “Like Lemmings To The Slaughter. Unlike other rodents, which have inconspicuous coats, their pelts are variegated. Definition of lemming in English English dictionary Any member of a group given to conformity or groupthink, especially a group poised to follow a leader off a cliff Any of the small Arctic and Subarctic rodents of the tribe Lemmini. For most Yemenis, drone strikes are the face of America Collectively, the population of our society are not lemmings . Lemmings’ supposed suicidal urges were also the inspiration for a 1985 TV advertisement launching Apple Macintosh’s Office. ( Log Out /  This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep See the lemmings hudle and claw for their pretty new rock! Relevance. Definition of lemming : any of various small short-tailed furry-footed rodents (such as genera Lemmus and Dicrostonyx ) of circumpolar distribution that are notable for population fluctuations and recurrent mass migrations Lemmings are the locusts of mammals, and they will strip a habitat bare. Ihr habt dafür verschiedene.. Unnumbered and enormous polypi Like Lemmings to the Sea: We Cannot Stop Our Addiction to Fossil Fuels The parallel with the present condition in which homo sapiens finds itself is similar to that of lemmings in several ways. 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