patterning

English

Etymology

From pattern +‎ -ing.

The “filmed assault” sense dates from the 2020s. Its origin is uncertain but may relate to social patterning (“a pattern of social behavior”). Compare Multicultural London English pattern up (“to bring (someone) into line; to inflict violence (upon someone)”).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “What is the etymology for the social-media abuse sense? What is the "pattern"?”)

Verb

patterning

1. present participle and gerund of pattern

Noun

patterning (countable and uncountable, plural patternings)

1. A pattern; the production of a pattern; the process of forming a pattern.
   • 1905, William Hurrell Mallock, The Reconstruction of Belief, page 151:

     […] the tesseræ will form patterns which for us are wholly meaningless, yet the patterning in every case is equally specific and inevitable, implying the pattern above it, implied in that below […]

   • 2015, Kim Williams, Michael J. Ostwald, Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future, page 460:

     Any system of geometric patterning that covers or fills a surface using a finite set of shapes is considered tiling in a mathematical sense.

2. Emulation, following as a model; frequently with after.
   • 1916, H.W. Nutt, “Genetic psychology of suggestion as a factor in human behavior”, in Teacher’s Journal, page 793:

     When it is serious it leads to a copying after the manners and personal habits of elders, and a patterning after the style of dress in those whom the children admire.

   • 2001, Douglas Webster, A Passion for Christ, page 66:

     His name became synonymous with God himself. Therefore, to be called by his name involved an inseparable commitment to a patterning after his life and a confession of his being.

3. (This is a hot sense, kept provisionally) (UK, slang, neologism, uncountable) An assault or act of humiliation that is deliberately filmed to be shared on social media.

   Coordinate term: happy slapping

   • 2022 June 20, Marianna Spring, A social media murder: Olly's story‎^[1]:

     It was a video posted on Snapchat showing an attack called "patterning" that was the catalyst in a chain of events that led to Olly losing his life.
     Thames Valley Police explained that patterning is the humiliation of a young person which is filmed or photographed and then shared on social media. It's forwarded on and on, shared across different social media sites, multiplying the embarrassment for the victim.

   • 2022 September 1, Ed Thomas, Child assaults: ‘If the police won’t do their job, we’ll do it for them’‎^[2]:

     Filming such violence and humiliation, and then sharing it online, has become known by the term "patterning" - with the aim of embarrassing victims even further by forwarding the videos across the web.

   • 2023 May 23, Sara Spinks, “The Dangerous Craze of ‘Patterning’”, in SSS Learning‎^[3]:

     ‘Patterning’ is an extension of bullying by individual bullies and / or gangs seeking power and attention who, by using social media, are able to publicly ridicule victims beyond the confines of the playground to national and international audiences. Patterning is seen as ‘sport’, an amusement for the perpetrators without any consideration of the impact sharing such footage has on their victims.