What’s the origin of the phrase ‘Feeding frenzy’?
In its literal meaning this expression is usually related to shark attacks and was coined in the mid 20th century. However the earliest citation that I know of refers to trout feeding on insects. That’s from the California newspaper The Long Beach Sun, September 1930:
We were able to see the silvery path but by the fish [trout] in their dashes into the shallows. The feeding frenzy lasted about a week.
It wasn’t long before that vivid imagery was began to be used in other contexts. In Science, April 1972 we have:
“It would be rash to take them as evidence of a coherent movement to cripple the law. But what worries environmentalists … is that a feeding frenzy may develop among federal agencies once a few loopholes have been opened in the law.”
See also - lager frenzy.
See other phrases that were coined in the USA.