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The phrase “birds of a feather flock together” refers to how people with similar interests or characteristics naturally group together. It is a personification metaphor that originated in the 16th century and has become popular in computer programming circles as BoF. It is a popular metaphor and a restatement of something self-evident.
The phrase “birds of a feather flock together” is used to refer to the many ways humans who share interests, demographics, or other characteristics naturally group together in any given situation. This sentence is an example of a “personification metaphor,” where the literal meaning, relating to birds, is used figuratively to refer to humans. There is generally nothing negative or demeaning about the use of this phrase, where some other personification metaphors may be offensive to some speakers.
Many historians of the language attribute the origin of the phrase to the 16th century. Originally, some writers had used a slightly alternative phrase “birds of kind and color,” which is a little more literal than “birds of a feather,” where the word “feather” is used to denote commonality. In older forms of this phrase, the Old English spelling often applies.
Some uses of the phrase have been used in reference to older works. One of the most notable is the use of this phrase in a translation of Plato’s Republic. Most researchers would agree, however, that this idiom was not explicit in the original, but rather a translator convention.
Along with the social usage of the phrase “birds of a feather flock together”, this phrase has also started to become popular in some circles related to computer programming or IT development. In many cases, the phrase has been shortened to the abbreviation BoF. One use of this element is in describing web forums devoted to a particular intention or goal. In general, BoF refers to informal working groups of people engaged in the same task or a larger collection of developers with a common agenda or goal.
In the general category of idiomatic phrases in English, the phrase is often classified more accurately as a “say,” in other words, a popular metaphor, which is also a “truism,” or a restatement of something that can often be self-evident. The sentence also benefits from its internal rhyme. Some also see it primarily as a descriptive phrase, when used in its original social context, that could be applied to an observed instance of people grouped together in a certain way. In the context of the computer industry above, the phrase has become more of a “marker” of sorts for collaboration and cooperation in progressing towards particular IT goals.
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