Were you offended?

Perhaps swarm is a London term?

Gagagran, the Winner advert was 2003 , surely it wasn't being used in 2011, and if so amusing why did Cameron choose to say it to a woman not a man?

I think we live in a world where every word uttered can be misconstrued as being used in a pejorative way when that was not the intention of the person who uttered it. Any large body of people could be referred to as a "swarm" I think I and others would use that term about the volume of people on the London underground when I worked up in town, something along the lines of "it's swarming with people today" I'm sure many would use this about a large crowd gathering for the first day of sales or spectators coming out of a football stadium or large numbers attending a venue such as Glastonbury it simply conjures up a vision of "numbers" that's all.

Anniebach it was a joke based on the Michael Winner advert and many people were using the phrase at the time.

Good point Far North, thanks.

He did make it seem as if the plague was to hit the country. I wasn't offended he didn't insult me, I felt deeply for the human beings he referred to , but he is rather fond of opening mouth before brain in gear. Who can forget 'calm down dear' to a fellow MP because the MP was female

No, I wasn't offended.

with adverbial] Move somewhere in large numbers:
‘protesters were swarming into the building’ ( from the Oxford dictionary.)

So, yes it would.

He said
"You have got a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain because Britain has got jobs, it's got a growing economy, it's an incredible place to live,"

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33716501

He told the BBC "everything that can be done will be done to make sure our borders are secure and make sure that British holidaymakers are able to go on their holidays".

His thinking seems to be of an amorphous mass that is a threat to the UK. He has no thought of the people as individuals, yet the only way to deal with them has to be as individuals.

If there was some sort of world crisis that caused huge numbers of British ex-pats to try to return to the UK, all at once, would it be acceptable to call them a swarm?

Not offended and considering what was happening at the beginning of the week 'swarm' would seem to be a very appropriate word. Let's hope they get on with sorting the problem instead of indulging in' he said, she said' .

Of course I wasn't offended. It's just 'people' making a mountain out of a molehill. I agree with MamaCaz, Harriet Harman's self righteous reaction yesterday was not the best. In one mouthful she complained that DC and the Gov weren't doing enough to sort out the situation and in the next, she was criticising him for using an appropriate metaphor. I'd like to know just how she and her motley crew would deal with it - and how, I wonder, would she describe on the spur of a moment, a large group of migrants?? I can think of far worse words......
The whole situation is tragic and the media and politicians are worrying about one word

It was not aimed at me/us so I the question of whether you or I were offended is irrelevant. I do agree though that politicians in particular should think what they are going to say before they open their mouths.

Gracesgran has made a very valid point about "The eternal Jew" propaganda as an example about how insidious derogatory language is in general.

When there was the serial killer in Hull a few years ago, I and a few others had rung BBC to complain that the press were saying stuff like. " A prostitute has been murdered," instead of saying, "A woman in Hull who was working as a prostitute has been murdered.

That person is a woman first and someone's child or mother. whatever difficulties have driven them onto the streets, to just dismiss them as a prostitute is wrong.

The difference in the inference in this two statements is great. We need to see those people as women first not as "just prossies". In general women sex workers out on the streets have had tough times in their lives one way or another.

I reserve the right to not to be offended feetle. I wasn't offended and think it was a good description. Flock brings to mind lots of sheep bags which could also offend someone looking to take offence!

On this occasion, even I don't feel the slightest inclination to criticize Cameron!

Our Oxford Shorter's definition of 'swarm' goes even further than the definition already given by Ana, as one entry specifically mentions people leaving a place in large numbers, looking for somewhere else to live.
(I should add that I've had to paraphrase that from memory as I don't have access to the dictionary at this moment to quote it word for word, but it gives the gist.)

I was a lot more offended - well, annoyed anyway - by Harriet Harman's reaction!

The point is that the use of 'swarm' made it sound as though there were many more would-be immigrants than in fact there were - not an outright lie, but qestionable nevertheless.

As for anyone being 'offended' - that's their problem. Nobody has the right not to be offended.

A swarm of bees is not a plague. Bees swarm when they're looking for somewhere new to live. Sounds like the perfect word to describe large groups of people who are looking for somewhere new to live.

I suppose he could have called them a flock, then the associations would be with birds instead of insects. Not that it matters.

gknot, thank you for the Stephen Fry reference. Yes. Exactly. It's just a picky objection aimed at the speaker rather than at what is being said – c/f farnorth's comment asking what is was he was actually saying.

What did he actually say about the large numbers of people?

One could draw unfortunate comparisons with Katie Hopkins "cockroaches" comment, but the situation is so dangerous and so tragic that evryone's efforts should be going into finding a solution rather than nit picking about words.

What a storm in a teacup. Methinks too many oeople these days are too easily offended. Get a grip.

(my post was in reply to Grannyknot's btw, not Gracesgran's)

No problem with the use of "swarm" at all. The first I heard of it was an email this afternoon from a supplier that I deal with in California who said that it has been reported in their news, and asking what I thought about it.

IMO it's somewhere between political correctness gone mad, and journalists needing something better to concern themselves with. (Are we not building up to what was referred to as "the silly season", reporting/newspaper wise?)

I told him that if he really wanted to see controversial journalism he should take a look at Katie Hopkins!

Exactly. I've just watched the news footage, Cameron referred to 'a swarm of people' - i.e. people moving somewhere in large numbers.

I wasn't personally offended - I was not one of the people referred to as part of the swarm - but I thought it was extremely offensive to the asylum seekers.

In the 1940s the Nazis propaganda machine made a film called “The Eternal Jew” "One of the film's most notorious sequences compares Jews to rats that carry contagion, flood the continent, and devour precious resources."*

Politicians really need to be careful what they say; some of the rhetoric we hear from them and also from some of the right wing press is not a million miles from this.

*http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007819

bags I've also wondered what the point of being offended is. Stephen Fry says:

'It's now very common to hear people say, "I'm rather offended by that", as if that gives them certain rights. It's no more than a whine. It has no meaning, it has no purpose, it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. "I'm offended by that." Well, so fucking what?' —Stephen Fry

what anno says- I hope to. I was not offended but I was shocked by his use of a word normally used for a plage of insects. Not easy to speak to the camera always though.