A while ago, I travelled on a ScotRail train from Edinburgh Waverley along the Borders Railway. The phrase “packed like sardines” described the journey very well as there were no seats, and the corridor of the train was so full of people standing that there was no room to move. It wasn’t a pleasant journey. Several newspaper articles suggest that this happens regularly due to a lack of carriages.
We use the phrase “packed like sardines” to describe people or animals in extremely crowded conditions, where movement is limited or impossible.
Examples:
“We’ve all been on a crowded bus, a rush-hour train or Tube carriage with people packed like sardines - when someone gets on and looks around for a seat.”
“These new figures show that our prisons are bursting at the seams with the majority now full or overcrowded. People are being packed in like sardines.”
“But when she ended her cracking speech during day two of the Munich Security Conference, the participants, who were packed like sardines into the banqueting hall of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, all stood up.”
Photo credit: Dave Crosby (Creative Commons)
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