the.com/feeding frenzy
When one shark smells blood and suddenly every shark forgets table manners.
means A chaotic rush of aggressive competition — among animals, media, buyers, or critics — triggered the moment everyone senses an opportunity or vulnerability at once.
from The phrase comes straight from marine biology: when sharks or piranhas detect blood or thrashing prey, their excitement escalates so fast that they attack indiscriminately, sometimes biting whatever's nearby, including each other. Observed and named by naturalists describing real shark behavior, the term jumped into general English by the mid-20th century as a vivid metaphor for any situation where competitors or onlookers pile on with sudden, reckless intensity — a stock market selloff, a press scandal, a sale rack. The literal and figurative senses now swim side by side.
- origin
- coined for literal sharks biting anything, including each other
- media use
- journalists swarming a scandal before facts arrive
- market version
- investors buying because others are buying, not why
- irony
- frenzy often wastes more than it consumes