the.com/stampede
democracy at its most lethal: a thousand creatures voting with their hooves to flee.
means A sudden, panicked rush of a herd of frightened animals — or, by extension, a crowd of people moving in a single uncontrollable surge.
from Borrowed in the 19th century from Mexican Spanish 'estampida,' meaning a crash, din, or sudden rush, which traces back to the verb 'estampar' — to stamp or pound. The word rode north with cattle culture, so it carries the literal sound of it: hundreds of hooves striking the ground at once. English politely lopped off the leading 'e' and kept the thunder.
- crowd physics
- Dense human crowds flow like fluid, pressure waves and all.
- trigger
- A single startled animal can launch the whole herd.
- deadly force
- Crowd crush can bend steel barriers, not just bodies.
- wildebeest
- Over a million cross the Serengeti in annual surges.
- word origin
- From Spanish estampida, meaning a crash or uproar.
for instance
love parade berlin 2010 — electronic music festival in germany where 21 people were crushed to death in a tunnel stampede