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Reader question:
What does this sentence – It seems their whole pecking order in the pub
revolves around how soon I acknowledge them and how long I talk to them – mean?
Specifically what is "pecking order"?
My comments:
That sentence means that if, upon walking into the pub you nod to someone
ahead of others in the group you make them feel important. Likewise, if you talk
to, say, Tom for 10 minutes but only 6 seconds to Jerry, you make Tom look good
and you make Jerry feel miserable.
Pecking order is the order in which birds take their turns to peck (eat).
As Oxford Dictionary points out, pecking order is a "social hierarchy, as
originally observed among hens".
As leaders of the pack, head hens (I like this, head hens) get to eat,
drink and mate ahead of others. Among wolves and other beasts, it's the alpha
male who gets to do the same things first. Among humans, leaders of a nation,
heads of a company, school, family, etc, get to enjoy similar privileges, such
as being able to walk in the front, or sit in the center, or speak first and for
hours, or pick the best meat from the table.
In short, pecking order denotes the rankings observable in all types of
societies, human or inhuman – I mean human or otherwise.
Here are examples to further illustrate the point.
1. The Final Word: Second-born kids face realities of the pecking order
Week after week, we read about the results of studies that researchers have
just released.
Playing with fire can cause burns. Drinking bleach is dangerous to your
health. Blondes still have more fun. And so on.
So I was hardly surprised last week when I read about new research on
21,000 people that finds firstborn children get more parental attention — 3,000
hours more — than their siblings. Not only that, but more quality time is spent
with firstborns even as they get older.
I could have saved those researchers at Brigham Young University a lot of
time and money. All they needed to do was call. I'm a second child. My brother,
Gary, is three years older.
Gary had 36 months of undivided attention before I arrived on the scene.
And now it's proven he got undivided attention after I arrived, too. Not that I
didn't already know.
I'm not saying I was abused, ignored or left on the hillside to fend off
the wolves. I'm just asking where my baby album is.
I remember cleaning out the attic with my mom a few years ago, and we came
upon Gary's. There was page after page of photographs of a fat farm baby. Gary
arriving home from the hospital. Gary on a blanket. Gary with his teddy
bear.
I then asked where my baby album was. Mom just mumbled. She finally
confessed she wasn't sure there was one.
It was then I realized what we second children have long known: To the
victor go the spoils, the victor being he who arrives at the finish line first.
The firstborn.
- USAToday.com, February 19, 2008
2. Sir Alex shunts Liverpool down the pecking order
Like a teenager obsessed with craptastic Australian soap operas, Sir Alex
Ferguson cannot get enough of the drama at Anfield. In his latest utterance
S'Alex stuck his oar in over Liverpool's attractiveness to players, saying,
according to The Sun:
"Most players want to play for Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal or
Liverpool. But when they see a club they think is topsy-turvy, with a divide
between the manager and the directors, then they might think twice. When the
choice comes, they want to join a stable club."
So is Fergie-Ferg right, are players going to start turning their noses up
at Liverpool?
- www.caughtoffside.com, January 24, 2008
3. Chickens have a very complex social behavior. When the birds are
maintained in small groups they will usually form a stable "peck order" (or
hierarchy) among themselves. The highest number of birds that can maintain a
stable hierarchy is unknown, but it seems to be somewhere between 20 and 100
chickens. If the peck order system is established, some chickens will be
dominants and others will be subordinates; sometimes organized in a perfect
linear dominance hierarchy. Dominants have priority of access to feed and water
and nearly all other resources (including mates if they are in mixed mature
groups). Although subordinates will have to wait for access to resources, the
benefit they receive from this social system is a dramatic reduction in
aggressive interactions.
However, when we deal with large numbers of birds it seems that the
establishment of such a peck order is impossible, because the birds are
incapable of individually recognizing every member of the group (required for
establishing a peck order). When this happens, conflict or "social tension" is
created. As a consequence, dominant chickens will monopolize access to
resources, while subordinate birds cannot obtain access to food or water. This
has been the traditional scientific explanation for the reduction in performance
seen with increasing densities.
- Bird Density: How It Can Affect the Behavior and Health of Your Flock,
www.thepoultrysite.cn, August, 1999 |
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发表于 2016-7-9 23:46:41