Frogmarch

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. I’m Rob.

Hello, I’m Helen. This is the programme where we try to help you understand language often heard in English conversations.

Well, I went to a presentation this morning and I heard a word that made me laugh.

What is it?

See if you can guess, Helen. Let’s play a word game. Are you ready?

Yes I am.

OK. Well, It’s made up of two words and the first word is a cute little animal.

OK.

And if you kiss this animal, it may turn into a prince.

I know this one. If you kiss a frog, it turns into a prince. The first word is ‘frog’.

Well done. The second word is the type of walk that soldiers do.

Easy - marching.

You got it. I heard the word ‘frogmarch’ this morning. And do you know what we call a lot of frogs together?

A school of frogs?

No.

A herd of frogs?

No, it’s an ‘army’ of frogs. I just have this cartoon picture in my mind of an army of frogs all wearing boots and marching down the river.

Oh that’s hilarious. But what does ‘frogmarch’ really mean? Surely it’s not a way of marching.

No, ‘to frogmarch’ means to force someone who is unwilling to move forward or to walk somewhere, often by holding their arms tightly. Here are some examples.

Examples

The drunken suspect was handcuffed by the police and frogmarched to the waiting police van.

In major sporting events, if you disrupt the game, you risk being frogmarched out of the stadium by security guards.

Ouch, that’s pretty harsh, isn’t it? So how did you hear it used?

The presenter told us that his lecture on social dynamics was a must for everyone and so we either all had to sign up voluntarily or he would frogmarch us there himself.

Oh, that’s a threat.

Exactly, so of course we all signed up.

Very effective. The next time I want full attendance, I’ll know exactly what to say.

Frogmarching someone? Well, make sure you have enough people to do the job. It usually takes at least two people to frogmarch one person. Bye bye.

Bye.

The English we speak from the BBC.