Has anyone else heard of “crocodiles” being used to describe lining up in twos at school?

[PuppyMonkey]

Learned something new today. Doing something at work involving editing a woman’s school memories during which she mentions looking back fondly on the teachers, the hymns they sang and the crocodiles. I thought WTF is that a typo for and then my colleague told me it’s a term for lining up two by two at school.

I'm 60 this year and that’s a new one on me.

Yes, I worked in a split site school ten years ago where they walked between buildings in a crocodile. I already knew the word from books, probably Enid Blyton.

I agree.
It's walking in a crocodile, not lining up.

I'm East Mids too @PuppyMonkeyand although I know the term, I'm sure we just walked in twos.

Walking in pairs, we did @PiggyPlumPie

Yes - mid 50s and we walked in crocodiles

Our teachers at infant school in Birmingham would say 'single file crocodile style'!

That's so crocodilist😄

Yep walking in a crocodile (West country)

Yes, it’s a term familiar to me, but it’s got me wondering why a crocodile? Why not e.g. a centipede?!

I think it’s used because crocodiles are low to ground and switch around

maybe not though…sure someone will be along to tell us

I'm a similar age to you, we definitely had crocodiles.

We say "walking in a crocodile" to describe a British, old-fashioned, or school-organized method of walking in a long, orderly line, usually in pairs. 1, 2]
Why it is called a "Crocodile":
Wavy Motion: The long line of children walking two-by-two often moves with a slight side-to-side, undulating motion, mimicking the look of a reptile’s long body as it moves.
Appearance: The "head-up, shoulders-back" posture often adopted by children walking in pairs, combined with the long, trailing line, is thought to resemble a crocodile.
History: The term has been used in Britain since at least 1870 to describe girls' schools walking together in a long, orderly file. 1, 2]

Lining up and holding on to a rope so we didn’t get lost in the 60s

Never heard of it but I’m in Australia.

Googled and found this about the history of it. Mumsnet gets a mention at the end.

https://www.theoldie.co.uk/blog/olden-life-what-was-a-crocodile-by-eleanor-allen

I feel like Katy and Clover Carr had to travel from the school to the bathhouse in a crocodile in What Katy Did At School, carrying their sponge and soap- and were so traumatized by the process they got their Dad to make the school allow them to install a sink in their room. I think that's the first time I saw the phrase but I'm sure we also had crocodiles at school. Not to the bathhouse though.

I'm guessing, OP, you were never a lover of old school stories in your youth or a discoverer of them adulthood as some people are.

You see 'crocodiles' used regularly in school stories set in the 50s and earlier, it's a word I've long been familiar with in that context as I've loved old school stories ever since I learned to read.

Often the context is that the pupils dislike going for walks in crocodiles and much prefer 'rambles' where they can walk along as they like.

Yes it’s a very common term.

Yes, I’m a bit younger than you OP but we we’re told to line up “in crocodiles”. We had to walk places “in crocodile”. It was a staple of books like Chalet School and Mallory Towers.

Similar age op. We had crocodiles in the south east.

Yes. That's what we did. A line of twos is a crocodile.

Yes I know of it

Yeah, never a big Enid Blyton fan tbh, so I missed out on that introduction to it.

Yes. Forever. I won’t see 65 again.

Yes , frequently used, but mostly in the past.

I'm over 60 and we used this term. Funnily enough when I came through town mid morning there was what appeared to be an entire nursery school, all walking two by two and holding a rope with adults spaced out every half a dozen kids or so. All in high vis jackets and I thought 'oh they still walk in crocodile formation'.