I recently heard the phrase "taking a bath with the crowd" and that apparently it's a common idiom in many European languages. I found several results for the phrase on Google, but none that explain what it means. Does anyone know what the phrase means, and if there's a common (American) English phrase that means the same thing?
asked Sep 23, 2012 at 16:21
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I have never heard of an idiom that is the same across languages, as you suggest. And certainly not taking a bath with the crowd, which is not an English idiom.– LambieCommented Jun 10, 2021 at 16:37
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4 Answers
Stéphane's suggestion, “to mingle with the crowd”, may well reflect the intended meaning of the speaker of the phrase. But note that in English, the phrase “take a bath” often is associated with a stock-market loss (1, 2); since the European idiom is not well-known in the U.S., I'd expect American English speakers to either associate your phrase with taking a loss in the market (along with a crowd of other investors) or to interpret the phrase literally.
answered Sep 23, 2012 at 17:41
It means “to mingle with the crowd” or maybe a bit more faithfully to “immerse oneself in the crowd” (as suggested by StoneyB in the comments).
The original idiom is closer to “taking a bath of crowd” (in French at least). Just as if the world were a container filled with human beings.
answered Sep 23, 2012 at 17:05
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Is this Baudelaire's " Il n'est pas donné à chacun de prendre un bain de multitude"? Commented Sep 23, 2012 at 17:30
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Baudelaire uses a variation here. “Un bain de foule” is the usual and very common idiom. Commented Sep 23, 2012 at 17:33
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But does the idiom predate Baudelaire, or does it derive from "Les Foules"? Commented Sep 23, 2012 at 17:36
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Interesting question. I would not trust these figures too much, but ngrams suggests that these phrases appeared around Baudelaire's time. Commented Sep 23, 2012 at 17:42
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Hmm ... well, if you can trust Google Books (you can't!), the only citation for "bain de foule" before B's time is this. (The other one it finds, labeled "1833", is in fact dated 1889.) Perhaps B was indirectly punning on the term from vintage? Commented Sep 23, 2012 at 17:58
It means "to suffer (take a bath) by doing what the crowd is doing" (in stocks, real estate, tulips, whatever). In my book, "A Modern Approach to Graham and Dodd Investing," I noted that every few years, lemmings will gather in large groups, "travel," and "upon reaching their destination, they will all jump into the sea, and of course, drown." The consolation for the fact that they all die is that "every lemming that dives into ocean gets to retire in the same style as every other lemming that does the same."
It means when a politician wants to show he is popular, and leaves the security perimeter around him to get close to the crowd surrounding that perimeter. It comes with risks, as French president Emmanuel Macron found out when he was recently slapped by a man in June 2021.
