Were you offended?

I will leave Eloethan to answer your question Ana.

I think that whenever the word swarm is used, whether insects, people, anything else, it means that those in the swarm are being regarded as a mass.

I happened to look at a globe of the world this morning, though, (yes, really) and was struck again by how very tiny the UK is.
We don't have room for huge numbers of incomers but clearly something needs to be done other than just putting up the barricades.

If the EU would get it's act together and make a solid joint decision about all these souls we could perhaps have a handle on managing the situation.

It was the context he used the word in that was unfortunate. I'm not sure whether it was through carelessness or by design. I think it could have been the latter. He wants to get support for his negotiations in the EU. Not a good way to go about it if that was the case. We don't want a lot of immigrant hatred being encouraged. And I am a Tory supporter.

Sometimes I think DC is simply the best of a bad bunch.

We need to get their own countries into a better state. And that means more foreign aid for governments that are do-operative, and troops and bombing for those that are not. But who really wants to go down that road?

The offence lies in over-magnifying the numbers by the use of the word. Scaremongering in other words.

A swarm of bees are trying to find a new home. That is exactly what this swarm of people are doing, so it is a far more appropriate word than some people seem to think.

What a storm in a teacup!

We have men bombing Syria with the Americans - after parliament voted against bombing Syria - and some of these asylum seekers are from the very country we are bombing . We bombed Afghanistan and there are asylum seekers from there too

Well said jbf.

Bees are not human beings though

No one in my family is or has been an asylum seeker (at least, not so far as I am aware).

I don't think terms that are generally used to describe insects should be used to describe people, particularly in this context. Swarms of insects are often seen as a threat and something to be afraid of, and to link that sort of imagery to this situation is, I feel, wrong.

interesting article here from BBC News.

petra Your last post said "I had a feeling in my water that this would happen. I'm sure some of you will understand to what I refer."

Who are the "some of you" to whom you are referring and what exactly are you getting at? If you don't like some people's responses, then don't ask the question.

Any dictionary you care to consult for a definition of the word swarm will, among others, refer to a gathering of people in large numbers whoever they are and wherever they may be. It is not a derogatory term for any particular group of people and never has been. It's a perfectly acceptable expression to use in the relevant context and doesn't have different connotations in different parts of the UK. To try and pretend that this is the case as a stick to beat the prime minister is blatantly absurd, and smacks of desperation by those who clearly know better. Bearing in mind the seriousness of the immigration situation these people should be ashamed of themselves at this deliberate attempt to stir up trouble over something completely irrelevant at such a difficult time when the country is beset by such an enormous problem. Offering ideas for a solution would be more helpful instead of this pathetic bleating.

Eloethan. My post was not meant as you seem to think.
I have sent you a PM to explain.

Anyone who doesn't want to use the word swarm of people because they think it is wrong to do so don't have to use it. What they do have to do is tolerate its use by people who don't think it's wrong to use the word of people. It really is that simple. There is no absolute right or wrong on this. It's a choice, a preference. That's all.

swarm
swɔːm/
noun
noun: swarm; plural noun: swarms
1.
a large or dense group of flying insects.
"a swarm of locusts"
a large number of honeybees that leave a hive en masse with a newly fertilized queen in order to establish a new colony.
synonyms:hive, flight, flock, covey
"a swarm of bees"
a large number of people or things
"a swarm of journalists"
synonyms:crowd, multitude, horde, host, mob, gang, throng, stream, mass, body, band, army, troop, legion, flock, herd, pack, drove, sea, array, myriad, pile; More
a series of similar-sized earthquakes occurring together, typically near a volcano.
ASTRONOMY
a large number of minor celestial objects occurring together in space, especially a dense shower of meteors.
verb
verb: swarm; 3rd person present: swarms; past tense: swarmed; past participle: swarmed; gerund or present participle: swarming
1.
(of flying insects) move in or form a swarm.
"swarming locusts"
(of honeybees, ants, or termites) issue from the nest in large numbers in order to mate and found new colonies.
"the bees had swarmed and left the hive"
2.
move somewhere in large numbers.
"protesters were swarming into the building"
synonyms:flock, crowd, throng, stream, surge, flood, seethe, pack, crush
"reporters and photographers were swarming all over the place"
be crowded or overrun with (moving people or things).
"the place was swarming with police"
synonyms:be crowded with, be thronged with, be overrun with, be full of, abound in, be teeming with, be bristling with, bristle with, be alive with, be crawling with, be infested with, overflow with, brim with, be prolific in, be abundant in; More

I think it is lack of tolerance that drives all the offendedness that one hears about nowadays. Intolerance, pure and simple. And not nice.

I accept Soontobe's comment that she hadn't heard the expression before, although I'm surprised because I thought it was pretty commonplace, but nevertheless there have been occasions when I have heard individuals state they are not au fait with sayings that are well used.

"Swarming", teeming, heaving would certainly be terms I would use to describe the sheer volume of people feeding in and out of the London underground system at rush hour. Maybe these expressions resonate with those of us who live in or near heavily populated areas and commuters have often been compared to say ants. Most would know the analogy being made is all about repetitious movement which personifies not only some species of insects but also people going about their daily rituals. I don't think the inference of the word "swarming" suggests that any mass of people are synonymous with a large number of insects.

An over analysis of an everyday expression.

Tolerance is in short supply recently. There are so many campaigns to draw attention to "real offensive behaviour and expressions that sometimes people get over-enthusiastic in taking offence unnecessarily.

Slightly off-topic, but relevant - the original meaning of "enthusiastic" was not the same as it is now used. It meant fanatical obsession, to the point of madness, from the Greek word ἐνθουσιασμός , from ἐν and θεός and ουσία, meaning possessed by god's essence, applied by the Greeks to manifestations of divine possession, by Apollo (as in the case of the Pythia), or by Dionysus (as in the case of the Bacchantes and Maenads) Some of those enthusiatically espousing being offended are fanatically obsessed.

Should have typed real

And now we have the reporter who asked 3 black asylum seekers "Are you going back to the jungle" being pilloried.
The jungle is the name of the camp in Calais, for those who have never heard the term.

Who named the camp - the jungle ?

Good point Anniebach.

Of those who had a negative view - and of course I may have missed some - I thought it was careless and JBF thought it was unfortunate in this context. I would hardly call that "a lack of tolerance". However, the rest of the four pages haranguing those who think it was not the best choice of words in the circumstances could well come into the "lack of tolerance" category.

I can't remember who referred to "droning on" but I would think that has more to do with bagpipes than bees.